Little Devil
by angelofthequeers
Summary: Chloé so doesn't like Marinette. She can't stand her, not at all. But honestly, when someone like Lila comes along, Chloé decides that the enemy of my enemy is my ally has its uses and she calls out everyone in the class who turned on Marinette. It's just a pity that now she has to get her hands dirty, since the real Ladybug is out of commission. But hey, at least she looks stylish
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own ML.**

**You know, if Adrien didn't just sit by and be an enabler. And if Chloé's character development actually stuck. And if the writers could actually write consistent characterisation.**

**Don't get me wrong, I love Alya to bits. But this girl was so wildly OOC in this episode that it's not funny. I also like all the other classmates. But since it's Chloé's POV, we all know our blonde bitch will take any chance she gets to drag them.**

This is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous! Okay, so Chloé doesn't like Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and you'd have to be an idiot to not realise that by now. But if there's one person that Chloé dislikes more than Marinette, it's that serial liar Lila Rossi.

Actually, scratch that. Chloé doesn't even really care about Marinette anymore. Hell, after all that stuff Marinette had done to get Chloé's maman to like her and then throw that party for Queen Bee, Chloé's inclined to think that Marinette is average. Not worth her attention, whether positive or negative, even though Chloé had been a bitch about the macarons on Heroes' Day (but then Marinette had invited her to the picnic, so. Yeah.). And sure, Marinette's crushing on Adrien – really, who _wouldn't_ crush on him, that's just common sense – but she doesn't hang off him like some kind of…ugh, leech. Even Chloé's not as touchy as this Lila girl, who had practically been sitting in Adrien's lap in class.

And really, Chloé has a right to be so physically affectionate with Adrien. They're childhood friends, after all. She's started to suspect that he's not really that into it, but that's something they can deal with another day. Right now, the problem is Lila Rossi. More specifically, how everyone in the class seems to be under some sort of spell or something, because how else would they swallow these utterly ridiculous lies?

Hmm. Maybe Lila's just a permanent akuma from now on, with the power to make anyone believe her ridiculous lies. Queen Bee should really investigate that…with a few small hits to make sure. But Chloé can't really go Queen Bee right now, so it's time for the next best thing: the enemy of her enemy is her temporary ally. And that ally just happens to be one Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

"Ugh, really," Chloé scoffs, shattering the silence. Having taken the cafeteria by surprise, the attention is now on Chloé, just as it should be.

"Is there a problem, Chloé?" Lila says, all sickly sweet and pathetic. Ugh, really. At least Chloé doesn't have to tell so many lies for attention; that just comes naturally when you're the mayor's daughter. Small lies, sure, but at least she can say she's not Liar Rossi.

"Duh," Chloé drawls. She pushes her gourmet lunch from her personal chef away and stands up, hands on her hips, her lip curling at how everyone's crowded around Lila to cater to her every whim like Sabrina does for Chloé. The difference is that Chloé actually gives half a fig for Sabrina, whereas Lila clearly doesn't give a damn about any of these losers. "The problem is what's wrong with all of you."

"What's wrong with us?" Alya says. Hmm. Some best friend to Marinette she is. "You're one to talk, Chloé!"

"At least I'm not two-faced to my friends," Chloé says. "Sabrina knows what she's signing up for by being my best friend, though I'm not so sure I like how she's fawning over Lila like that when she's supposed to be fawning over _me_." She puts on a look of exaggerated thought. "But I don't think Marinette expected this from her friends…if you can even call yourselves that."

There's predictably immediate uproar, which Chloé drinks in with a smug smile on her face. Chaos is absolutely beautiful. Cause enough of it and you can pretty much get away with anything while everyone's distracted by their hurt feelings. Lila just stares back evenly, the look in her eyes promising that somewhere, sometime, Chloé will pay for this.

Which would be a lot more intimidating if Chloé hadn't mastered that look for herself, to be honest. What could this pathetic liar do to _her_, Chloé Bourgeois?

"Oh, come on," Alya scoffs. "Like you care about Marinette. You're just jealous of Lila because you're not the centre of attention anymore."

Chloé lets herself laugh at that because honestly, she doesn't give a damn about Lila. Maybe if Lila was actually a credible threat. But really, Chloé can disprove half her lies on the very spot; she'd just rather not until she absolutely has to get her hands dirty. Make everyone stew just that bit longer.

"You're right," she says. "I don't really care all that much about Marinette. But at least I'm honest about it. I don't go calling myself her friend and then turning my back as soon as some lame new girl shows up."

"Hey!" Kim says. "We didn't turn our backs –"

"No, stop," Lila sniffles. A tear slides down her cheek and it's all Chloé can do to not double over laughing at how obviously _fake_ it all is. "Chloé has a point. I didn't mean to take Marinette's friends from her –"

"Dude, you didn't take us," Nino says. "You needed help because of your ear and wrist."

"Yeah!" Rose pipes up. "Marinette's just upset. But she'll come around! And then she'll just love being your friend!"

"Oh, this is priceless!" Chloé laughs, wiping a tear from her eye. "Do you even hear yourselves? 'Marinette will come around, then she'll love being your friend!' She can't _stand_ Lila!"

"And I don't understand why," Lila says, delicately dabbing her nose with a napkin with the hand that Chloé's pretty sure is the one she claimed had arthritis. "I've tried to be nice to her! I want so badly to be her friend, but I guess some people are just incompatible…"

Chloé laughs even harder. "Oh. My. God. How am _I_ the one defending Marinette while the rest of you treat her like some horrible person because she's the only one smart enough to see through Lila?"

"You're just defending her because she's acting like you," Alix says, her arms crossed. "Now that she's started being mean to Lila because she's jealous that Lila's sitting next to the guy she likes, I bet you think she's just the best person ever."

"Do you even hear yourself?" Chloé says. "I don't even _like_ Marinette."

"No, really?" Juleka mutters.

"In fact, I have a whole list of reasons why I don't like her," Chloé declares. "Sabrina can back me up there. But you know what isn't one of those reasons? Being a bully. If there's any one person out of the lot of you who's least likely to be a bully, it's Marinette."

"But Adrien –"

"_Think_, people!" Chloé interrupts Rose. "Is Marinette really the kind of person to be mean to someone over a _crush_?"

Most of the class looks like they still want to demonise Marinette in favour of Lila, but it's Mylène who looks down and mumbles, "We did try to help her talk to Adrien. But she told us to stop because he liked Kagami and she didn't want to get between them."

Chloé files that nice bit of information away in case she needs to deal with Marinette later, although it probably won't be for a while if this lot are any indication. She and Marinette may never end up friends, but it might be wise to call a truce while Lila's around. "So, you know Marinette wouldn't be mean to someone because she's jealous," she says. "But you still rushed to kiss up to Lila because she told you a few cool stories?"

"I can understand why you'd doubt me," Lila says, still putting on her pathetic 'woe is me' air. "I know a few of my experiences sound pretty outlandish –"

"That's an understatement," Chloé says. "How anyone believed those utterly ridiculous stories is beyond me. And see, as soon as anyone calls you out, you cry and whine and act like a baby to make people feel sorry for you. And it works! Now everyone hates Marinette. And now everyone hates me even more, not that I really care." Actually, she does, if her outburst to Ladybug when her father had been akumatised is any indication. But they don't need to know that. "I hope you're all happy with yourselves."

Though everyone's still glaring at Chloé, there's a far less hostile atmosphere. In fact, the cafeteria is starting to feel shameful rather than angry, like everyone's beginning to realise that Chloé's right. Of course she is. She's grown up around people like Lila all her life, who'll say and do anything to win over others for their own use. And while Chloé's never had the subtlety to do it herself, she's very much familiar with the whole backstabbing business of it. One wrong move and you're done for. Unfortunately for Lila, Chloé doesn't care about being subtle and not making enemies, because at least she knows where she stands with people while being nasty to their face.

"You told Marinette that a journalist always uses sources," Chloé says to Alya, recognising this as the time to strike. "Did _you_ use any sources, _Ladyblogger_? Or did you just believe Lila because she told you what you want to hear?"

"Excuse me?" Alya looks like she wants to spit nails.

"You believed a random girl over your own friend!" Chloé says gleefully. "Your _best_ friend! You didn't even look for sources yourself like a good journalist would! And hmm…Marinette's the one who searched for sources on Heroes' Day, right? She did your job for you and you ignored her. Because she was just jealous."

The look of dawning horror on Alya's face is absolutely beautiful. "I –"

"My daddy's the one who invited Prince Ali here last time," Chloé says, her entire body about to float away from just how _perfect_ this all is. "All I had to do was ask him and he said there was no way that Prince Ali could've invited a commoner like _Lila_ to be his personal guest. The timing doesn't work out. And I'm sure that Rose could call him up and ask, since they're just the _best_ of friends."

"I told you," Lila insists, shedding a little of her pathetic air, while Rose looks away. "He never said that he'd be in the country with us."

"Okay, whatever," Chloé says. "But even if Marinette can't prove that, what about Jagged Stone's kitten? Isn't Marinette the one with Jagged Stone's phone number? Didn't she design his album cover? Couldn't you have asked her to check with him?"

A wide-eyed Alya says nothing, so Chloé goes in for the kill, revelling in how obviously Lila is trying to hide her panic.

"And even if you didn't do that, you're the Ladyblogger, right? Ladybug talks to you. Why don't you just ask Ladybug if she's Lila's best friend? After all, a journalist always checks her sources! But sure," Chloé shrugs, "Lila's totally telling the truth."

"Leave her alone!" Nino growls when Alya backs away from Chloé and turns away, her face twitching and eyes shining suspiciously. "Why do you have to be so mean, Chloé?"

"Mean?" Chloé smirks. "For once, I'm not being mean. I'm being honest. But you can't handle that. And Alya's not the only one who turned her back on Marinette, so she's not the only one to blame. You all made up a whole seating plan to cater to one person without even asking the one being kicked to the back."

"I have to sit up the front!" Lila says. "My tinnitus –"

"Oh, I can't prove that's fake, as much as we both know it is," Chloé says. "And I'm not mean enough to accuse someone of faking a disability. But you and I both know that the only reason you wanted that seat was to sit next to Adrikins. And your 'disability' isn't even the problem. It's how everyone here made plans without even asking Marinette if she was okay with being pushed into the back row, then turned on her as soon as she asked why it was her who had to go when she wasn't asked in the first place. She didn't even say anything about Lila's hearing!"

"I offered to sit up the back because I felt bad that I'd caused that trouble," Lila says with a well-timed head droop.

"No, you said that to make Marinette look like the nasty bad guy so everyone would hate her more," Chloé says. "My maman is Audrey Bourgeois. Do you really think I don't know how this works? You suck." Her eyes sweep over all her stunned classmates, who are standing there with open mouths like some sort of hive mind. Ha, hive mind. Her sense of humour is as impeccable as her sense of fashion. "You _all_ suck. Especially if you believe some story about napkin balls cutting eyeballs out that even _I_ know is fake, and I don't even do my own homework. And the funny thing is that it took _me_ to tell you all this and I'm not even Marinette's friend! In fact, hasn't she always stood up for all of you _against_ me? And the only time you've paid her back is by helping her with a picnic where you got to eat her food anyway."

"W-Where are you going?" Rose says in a high, unstable voice when Chloé starts to walk off. Chloé turns back around.

"To find Marinette and kick some sense into her, seeing as none of her friends seem to want to do that. Also, thanks for _ruining_ my lunch. I can hardly eat it now that it's cold."

Chloé whips her ponytail around in a move honed over years and walks out of the cafeteria. No one says anything as she goes. They probably all hate her even more than usual, not that Chloé really cares right now. She's used to being hated, and she's too drunk on the high of actually being in the _right_ for once. Now to find Marinette and kick a spine into her.

"Chloé?" she hears as soon as she leaves the cafeteria. When she turns and sees Adrien standing behind the door, she can't help but beam.

"Adrikins!" she chirps, immediately rushing to his side. When he gives her the same look that he gave Lila, however, she forces herself not to throw herself all over him. Maybe all she needed was to see someone else do it to realise. "_Please_ tell me you don't believe Lila and her _awful_ lies!"

"I heard what you said in there," Adrien says. "And I think you could've been nicer about it but…you were right. Everyone did wrong by Marinette."

"Not you," Chloé insists, looping their arms together to pull him in the direction of the bathroom, where Marinette's probably hiding out. There's really nowhere else she can be, since bathrooms seem to be a magnet for crying teenage girls. "You didn't say anything mean to her, Adrien!"

"But I didn't stand up for her," Adrien says. He looks down, green eyes crinkled and mouth drooping, and the urge to slap Lila for all the trouble she's caused grows even stronger in Chloé at the sight. "I should have said something. I should have offered to sit with her at the back of the class. I _knew_ Lila had a problem with lying – I should have said something then –"

"And had her make you look bad too?" Chloé says. "Please. It's not your fault."

Adrien doesn't say anything to that, so Chloé just harrumphs and hopes that an akuma doesn't come flapping its way in because if Queen Bee has to beat on her Adrikins then there's going to be hell to pay. When they finally reach the girls' bathroom, he freezes on the spot.

"I can't go in there!" he says. "I'm a boy –"

"Adrien, if Harry and Ron can go into the girls' bathroom to save Hermione or make some potion, you can go in there and cheer Marinette up before she gets akumatised and wrecks the school," Chloé says. Adrien stares at her. "What? I saw the movies. And I'm not as dumb as people think I am. Come _on_."

"I never thought you were dumb!" Adrien protests as Chloé pulls him into the bathroom. There's no one in there, but one of the stalls is closed and Chloé can hear faint sniffles from behind the door.

"Dupain-Cheng!" Chloé announces, her voice echoing off the tiles. "You better come out right now."

"C-Chloé?" Marinette's voice is thick and wet. "Go away. I can't deal with you right now."

"Marinette, Chloé's here to help," Adrien says soothingly, like he's talking to an animal about to spook. Judging from the gasp from inside the stall, Chloé thinks she's pretty spot-on with that simile.

Yes, she knows what a simile is. Just because she makes Sabrina do her homework doesn't mean she doesn't actually learn the stuff. She just can't be bothered doing the work.

"A-Adrien?" Marinette squeaks. "But – but this is the girls' –"

"Who cares what bathroom this is?" Chloé says. "Look, Marinette, I just lectured our whole class and made an enemy of Lila, so you'd better get out here this second."

Honestly, it's probably shock that gets Marinette to open her stall door, but Chloé doesn't care what it is. All she knows is that the lurch in her gut at seeing Marinette with red-rimmed eyes and a wet face should _not_ be there because she so doesn't care about Marinette at all.

And yet, a small part of her can't help wondering if this is how she's made Marinette feel with her own meanness. It's not exactly that good a feeling. Ugh, is this what it's like to actually _care_ about other people?

"You – you did that?" Marinette looks from Chloé to Adrien, seeking proof that Chloé's telling the truth.

"She did," Adrien says with a small smile. He unloops his arm from Chloé's so he can wrap it around Marinette, who squeaks and flushes brightly and accidentally pushes her damp handkerchief into Adrien's chest. "Chloé was amazing. She told everyone exactly what they did wrong, especially how they could've just asked you about Jagged Stone's kitten or Ladybug about being Lila's friend. And she also made them see that it was wrong to not ask you if you could sit up the back because they all thought you were angry at Lila's disability."

"It wasn't that!" Marinette bursts out. "She just – and everyone _believed_ her, when she's done nothing but lie but I always help everyone – oh, I'm sorry!" She covers her face with her hands. "I shouldn't be acting so entitled –"

"Marinette, shut up," Chloé says. "You're allowed to stand up for yourself."

"Especially after everything you've done for everyone," Adrien says. "I meant it when I said you're our real-life Ladybug."

The bell ringing at that moment drowns out Marinette's squeak. Adrien looks around at the door, panicked.

"I can't miss class," he says wildly. "My father would be _furious_ if he knew I skipped class to comfort a friend. But I can't just leave Marinette –"

"Go to class, Adrikins," Chloé says. "I'll stay here and talk some sense into her. And the principal wouldn't dare punish me for missing class or I'll tell my daddy."

"Are you sure?"

"Please go!" Marinette lets out another squeak. "I mean, don't go – I mean – I don't want you to miss class because of me!"

Adrien looks torn but, with one last squeeze, he lets go of Marinette and heads for the door. As soon as he's gone, Marinette squints at Chloé.

"Why are you doing this?" she says. "Why would _you_ stand up for _me_?"

"Because I hate Lila more than I hate you," Chloé says. Before she can launch into some speech about calling a truce because they both hate Lila's lies, there's the sound of fluttering and Marinette shrieks and jumps away from Chloé.

"_Akuma_!" the noirette cries, backing away into a corner of the bathroom.

"Damn it, Marinette, stop being upset!" Chloé snaps, her eyes flitting to the bathroom door so that she can make sure she's got enough time to run if Marinette gets akumatised.

"I'm trying!" Marinette wails, waving her handkerchief in front of her. "I've tried breathing – I've tried thinking happy thoughts – but I can't help it this time! I'm sorry!"

Okay, wow, Lila is so going to pay for this because Chloé totally didn't sign up for an akumatisation today. She backs out of the room, determined not to be the first victim, but she pauses outside the door and peers inside when Marinette does something strange. As though resigning herself to the akuma, Marinette stops trying to get away and instead, yanks her earrings out and flings them into a corner of the bathroom a split second before the akuma hits her handkerchief. Chloé's distracted from the oddness of the action by Marinette sliding to the floor, whimpering and tugging at her hair as a purple outline appears over her face.

"No!" she shouts. "Leave me alone, Hawkmoth!"

Wow, is Marinette actually going to fight this off? Chloé sure hopes so. Her nails were just done yesterday.

"I don't want your power!"

But Chloé can see the exact moment when Marinette is overcome by Hawkmoth's sheer will. Not that she can blame Marinette, really. Chloé's been subject to it three times and she hadn't even tried to fight (though to be fair, she'd been hit by Despair Bear and Dark Cupid the third time). Hawkmoth can be super persuasive, especially with all the negativity amplified by ten and surging through you when the akuma hits.

"This isn't even my fault for once!" Chloé whines softly when Marinette's head whips up, an uncharacteristically dark smile spread wide across her face, and she's engulfed in dark purple and black from head to toe.

When the akuma magic fades away, the thing floating in the bathroom is nothing but an ugly mockery of Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Her skin is now a blood red, her eyes still bright blue but the whites now burnt yellow. Her pigtails look sharper, more like downward-pointing horns, while she has little horns poking up that look like hair but, knowing Hawkmoth, are probably real horns. She's wearing a black one-piece that ends in short shorts and T-shirt sleeves, with thigh-high black boots and gloves a darker red than her skin, with hearts cut out of the back of her gloves and dotting her suit. And on her back are little black devil wings, though they're probably not keeping her afloat since they're not flapping. It takes Chloé a moment to locate the akumatised handkerchief tied around Marinette's throat like a cravat, and she's just wondering if she can somehow grab it without getting herself hurt when Marinette lets out a loud laugh and floats to the door, slamming it open and sending Chloé crashing to the ground.

"I am Little Devil!" Marinette announces, her voice warped deeply and horribly from the voice that Chloé knows. Chloé idly notices that she has a narrow black tail, like Chat Noir's but ending in a love heart-shaped point, just like the pitchfork she's carrying. "You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad guy."

"Marinette, don't you dare go all akuma on me!" Chloé snaps. She's keenly aware that sassing the villain probably isn't a good idea, but she's probably going to be attacked anyway so she may as well get some jabs in first. Then she can at least claim that she tried. "I stood up to everyone for you and this is how you repay me?"

Little Devil looks down at Chloé, black lips curved in a wicked little smile that distorts the black hearts dotting her cheeks. "Chloé Bourgeois," the akuma says in her deep, smooth voice. "The one person I never thought I would spare."

"_What_?" Chloé splutters. Spare her? Is Little Devil high? Does Hawkmoth need Chloé for something?

"You stood up for me," Little Devil says. "You and Adrien came for me when nobody else did. So, the two of you will be spared. Everybody else?" Her eyes gleam wickedly. "Everyone has a little devil on their shoulder. I just need to make them listen."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own ML.**

**I had way too much fun designing Chloé's outfit. She's such a diva, she practically begged for me to do so because no way was she going to have a similar outfit to Marinette's. I love Marinette baby but her outfit is so boring :(**

**Little Devil's speech about why she's doing this is from zoe-oneesama's post that's linked on the AO3 version of this fic. It was so brilliant that I had to incorporate it, so full credit to them.**

"Marinette, don't you dare go all akuma on me!" Chloé snaps. She's keenly aware that sassing the villain probably isn't a good idea, but she's probably going to be attacked anyway so she may as well get some jabs in first. Then she can at least claim that she tried. "I stood up to everyone for you and this is how you repay me?"

Little Devil looks down at Chloé, black lips curved in a wicked little smile that distorts the black hearts dotting her cheeks. "Chloé Bourgeois," the akuma says in her deep, smooth voice. "The one person I never thought I would spare."

"_What_?" Chloé splutters. Spare her? Is Little Devil high? Does Hawkmoth need Chloé for something?

"You stood up for me," Little Devil says. "You and Adrien came for me when nobody else did. So, the two of you will be spared. Everybody else?" Her eyes gleam wickedly. "Everyone has a little devil on their shoulder. I just need to make them listen."

Chloé scrambles away from Little Devil as the akuma floats past, no doubt off to search for victims. And if Chloé's right, those victims will probably be their classmates.

"Best thing I can do is hide!" Chloé decides, ducking into the bathroom. "After all, Ladybug needs to be able to find me, and she can't do that if I get myself hit."

Okay, so she's being a coward. But she's totally right as well. Come on.

In the bathroom, her eyes land on the earrings that Marinette had flung away, and her curiosity is unavoidably piqued. Why had Marinette been so desperate to keep them from Hawkmoth? What, are they some family heirloom or something that she didn't want akumatised? Pfft, how utterly ridiculous. _Everyone_ knows that whatever gets broken during an akuma attack gets fixed by Miraculous Ladybug. Speaking of which, Ladybug had better get her butt there pronto so that Chloé can help.

She shuffles over to swipe the earrings to pocket for Marinette. No, she totally doesn't care about Marinette at all. But after the day that girl has had, she doesn't need something else to upset her, like broken earrings. Heaven forbid she get akumatised again.

The moment Chloé makes contact with the earrings, they emit a bright red light that forces Chloé to squeeze her eyes shut, while her stomach sinks because damn it all, she _knows_ this light. She's seen it with –

"Chloé?" the small red thing hovering in mid-air squeaks. "What are you –" It zips over to the door and gasps. "Oh no!"

"I – you – _kwami_!" Chloé splutters. No. Way. There's no way this can be happening. There's no way that _Marinette Dupain-Cheng_ can be _Ladybug_. But it makes sense. The constant absences that conveniently align with akumas, the similar hair and eyes that Chloé had dismissed in a way she couldn't now –

She's been sucking up to _Marinette_ this whole time. Why? Why is life so unfair? But it explains why Marinette had thrown the earrings away. Hawkmoth had proven just how dangerous an akumatised Miraculous holder could be, and she was _Ladybug_. At least now…

At least now there's still a chance.

"This is awful!" the kwami cries. "Poor Marinette! I tried so hard to calm her down!"

"Oh, relax," Chloé says, already fitting the earrings into her earlobes as a daring plan starts to form. Queen Bee won't be appearing in this battle, that much is certain, but that doesn't mean Ladybug has to sit this one out. "What do you say to transform?"

"You can't do this!" the kwami says. "This isn't right –"

"Listen, kwami whose name I don't know," Chloé snaps. "It's either I be Ladybug for this battle or you don't get your precious Marinette back. I've been akumatised three times and rescued way more. I was Antibug. I know better than anyone else how this works. Other than Chat Noir, of course. And if Marinette remembers that she threw her earrings in here, she'll be back for them when Hawkmoth gets naggy."

The kwami stares at Chloé for a few moments, tiny face twisted as though stuck in an internal battle. "Tikki," the kwami finally says. "My name is Tikki." She floats up in front of Chloé's face, studying her intently. "Are you sure you can be trusted with this, Chloé? This isn't a game!"

"Was it a game when I was Queen Bee?" Chloé crosses her arms. "I know lives are at stake. Even more if I'm Ladybug."

"Why would you want to do this if you don't like Marinette?"

"Because if Marinette goes around zapping people then Lila wins. And not even Marinette deserves the simply awful day she's had."

Tikki beams at Chloé. "I knew you could be a good person if you put your mind to it!" she says. "I'm so glad that you're starting to care about other people!"

"I don't care about Marinette!" Chloé argues a little too quickly. "I'm doing this because I can't stand Lila. Look, just tell me what to say so I can get out there and kick akuma butt."

"Spots on to transform," Tikki rattles off. "Spots off to turn back. Remember, you only have five minutes after you use your Lucky Charm –"

"Before I transform back, yes, yes, I know. And I need to capture the akuma in the yo-yo and then use Miraculous Ladybug. Tikki, spots on!"

It's nice to know that she's just as big a diva transforming into Ladybug as she is when turning into Queen Bee, as her transformation sequence is damn _awesome_ and involves a lot of dramatic posing and hand-on-hip, pretty much like Queen Bee. The magic washing over her feels…different to when Pollen had turned her into Queen Bee. Cool, fresh, like being outside on a nice spring day and basking in the sunlight and the joy of living things around you. When the magic fades away, Chloé immediately heads for the mirror so that she can look over her outfit.

It's very different to the real Ladybug's outfit. Marinette's suit is just red with black dots all over – and really, if Marinette's trying to be a fashion designer then her outfit should be a little more interesting. But Chloé's consists of a black-spotted red corset-style leotard over black garter leggings and a sheer, long-sleeved black undershirt, both underneath knee-length boots and elbow-length gloves that match her leotard. Two strips of ladybug-patterned cloth over her shoulders and back complete the outfit, almost like little ladybug wings even though Ladybug can't fly. Her hair is still in its signature ponytail but tied with a red ribbon and streaked with red, with little antennae sticking out of her hair like Chat's ears. Her mask and the yo-yo around her waist are the only things identical to Marinette's Ladybug.

"I look _awesome_," Chloé preens, turning this way and that to admire herself. Honestly, if she never had to give the Miraculous back then she'd be doing everyone a favour. Paris deserves a much more stylish Ladybug to save the day. She pauses and grimaces. Okay, so this is only temporary. But maybe she can give the real Ladybug some fashion tips when she totally saves everyone. Which means actually going out there. And fighting.

"Lila is so paying for my next nail appointment," Chloé grumbles as she sprints out of the bathroom. Come to think of it, she should just charge every villain she has to fight as Queen Bee. Maybe even send the bill to Hawkmoth. No, he should use that money to get himself a new outfit, because his current one is utterly ridiculous.

Lost in her thoughts, Chloé doesn't notice that she's on a collision course with someone until she slams into a figure clad in black and they go tumbling down the hallway, groaning and cursing.

"Watch where you're going!" Chloé snaps, untangling herself from the other person so she can stand up and dust off her outfit. She's so committing this suit to memory and having it commissioned so she can remember the day she was Ladybug, even if she has to keep it to herself. Truth be told, though, she kind of misses being Queen Bee. As Ladybug, it just feels like she's playing pretend as someone else.

"Sorry, m'lady!" the other person says as he deftly jumps to his feet. Oh, great. It's that mangy Chat Noir. But at least Chloé now has backup and she knows that Chat Noir hasn't been affected by the akuma. The thought of a solo fight is daunting as all hell.

"Oh, good, you're here," Chloé says. "Come on, Marinette got akumatised, so we need to –"

"You're not Ladybug." Chat Noir backs away, holding his baton in front of him like he's warding off evil. "Where's the real Ladybug?"

"I'm the temporary Ladybug," Chloé says. "It's me, Chloé."

"You expect me to believe that Ladybug would just give you her earrings?"

"She didn't give them. Duh. But she can't really use them now, can she?"

The moment that Chat Noir puts two and two together and realises the implication of what Chloé's telling him is painted blindingly across his annoyingly cute face. With a sigh, Chloé grabs his arm and drags him into the nearest empty classroom, locking the door behind them.

"Marinette – _Ladybug_?" Chat Noir babbles, grabbing at his messy blond hair.

"Hey! Snap out of it!" Chloé gently slaps him across the face. "Have your mental breakdown later, okay? Look, do I need to detransform so you can talk to Tikki?"

"I – yes?" Chat Noir says. "No offence, Chloé, but I need to –"

"Yes, yes, I get it. Spots off." She can't even find it in herself to feel hurt as the magic washes off her and consumes her outfit. Honestly, she would've been more worried if Chat Noir had just straight-up accepted her explanation.

"Tikki?" Chat Noir takes a step towards the little kwami, eyes fixed on her.

"Chat Noir!" Tikki says. "I wish I could say it's nice to meet you but…" She droops. "Not like this. Marinette's going to be so upset that she was revealed like this and that she was akumatised. Everyone thought she would be the one person who would never give in and she really took that on her shoulders."

"So…you're telling the truth?" Chat Noir says to Chloé.

"Of course." Chloé rolls her eyes. "Marinette pulled out her earrings so Hawkmoth couldn't akumatise them. And really, if I hadn't picked them up then not only would you have no Ladybug, but Marinette would've gone straight back for them if she remembered them. Do you really want to take that risk?"

Chat Noir still doesn't look like he fully trusts Chloé, but there's new respect in his eyes. Chloé wonders if she knows his civilian identity. Hmm. If any of the boys start treating her differently, like they respect her now, then she'll have her answer. It pays to have people think that you're a dumb blonde sometimes.

"Look, is this really the time to sit here and have a little party?" Chloé says. "Tikki, spots on!"

Once she's transformed again, she unlocks the door and she and Chat take off running down the hallway to her classroom, which is where Little Devil would be if anywhere.

"We need a cover story that doesn't out Marinette," Chat Noir says as they skid around a corner. "Everyone's going to notice that you're not Ladybug and that Marinette's akumatised!"

"Good point," Chloé says, her mind racing. "How about…Ladybug got caught in civilian form by whatever this akuma does. And since I'm Queen Bee, she knew she could trust _me_, of course."

"Little less vanity, but sure," Chat Noir says. "That's purrfect."

Chloé groans loudly. "I'm not Ladybug, so don't think I won't kick you for those ridiculous –"

A scream cuts her off before she can finish her threat. With a long-suffering sigh, Chloé changes direction with Chat Noir, and they turn down another hallway and find a familiar brunette girl curled in a ball, sobbing and pulling her hair.

"Alya?" Chloé nudges the crying girl with her foot. Not very heroic, sure, but she never claimed to be a good little hero in the first place. "Alright, what did she do to you?"

"You can't hear them?" Alya looks up, her red-rimmed eyes similar to how Marinette's had looked after emerging from her bathroom stall. "The voices! They won't stop!"

"What voices?" Chat Noir looks around, perplexed. "I don't hear any voices."

"No! I'm sorry!" Alya shakes her head wildly. "I'm not selfish! I didn't mean to dump Marinette – I'm sorry – I'm the worst friend –"

Chloé and Chat Noir back away when Alya's shoulders slump and her cries trail off. Blood red splotches start to appear on her skin, the same colour as Little Devil's skin, and they rapidly spread like an ugly rash until every inch of skin is that colour. Her orange-brown hair turns pitch black and two red horns push themselves out, while her clothes turn black as though someone spilled ink over every thread.

"Alya?" Chat Noir carefully approaches her, while every spidey sense that Chloé has blares at once.

"Chat Noir!" She grabs his arm and pulls him back, and just in time; Alya lets out an inhuman shriek and launches herself at Chat Noir, fingers grasping for his throat. Her eyes are now fully yellow behind her glasses, just like Little Devil's sclerae, and her face twitches and distorts every few seconds like she's possessed.

"It never ends!" Alya shouts, her voice warped with an otherworldly influence like Little Devil's had been. She pauses, head tilted like she's listening to a voice they can't hear, and then she bellows and advances on Chloé and Chat Noir. "Give me your Miraculouses! Little Devil says that's the only way I can make the pain stop! That I can make it all right again!"

"So, she forces you to hear your darkest thoughts?" Chat Noir says as they prepare to take down Alya.

"Looks like it," Chloé says. "And if you give in, you turn into…" She gestures at Alya. "_That_. Really, for an aspiring fashion designer, Marinette has a lot of work to do."

"I don't think that's Marinette's fashion sense," Chat Noir says.

"Ugh. Right. Hawkmoth and his ridiculous outfits."

Although they don't have the same almost-telepathic connection that Ladybug and Chat Noir have, they do have enough of an acquaintance by now that they're not totally useless as a team. Although Chat Noir accidentally smacks Chloé in the head with his baton and Chloé's yo-yo ensnares his foot while she's tying up Alya, they manage to work together well enough that it's not that difficult to leave Alya out for the count, snarling and crying.

"We need a way to keep her here," Chat Noir says. "We can't keep her tied up in your yo-yo."

Chloé's ponytail whips around as she scours the classroom for something she can use to keep Alya subdued. A lightbulb goes off in her brain, and it only takes a few moments for her to rip one of the curtains off the window and tie Alya to a desk, manoeuvring carefully so she can undo her yo-yo as she goes.

"Nice thinking," Chat Noir says. "But you'll never be able to replace my lady."

"I don't plan on it," Chloé says. "I'm fine without the villains targeting me."

"That's…oddly mature of you," Chat Noir says as they dash out of the classroom.

"I caused so many akumas that after Mlle Bustier was akumatised…it kind of sank in," Chloé says. "And then…I got my daddy akumatised. I realised that I was causing half the problems that Ladybug had to fix. And now that I'm being Ladybug and I have to do what she does, it's a kick up the butt."

"You didn't cause those akumas," Chat Noir says. "Everyone feels upset from time to time. It's Hawkmoth who makes it unsafe to feel those emotions and uses those people so he can make his selfish wish."

"I still had a part to play," Chloé says. "You can't honestly look at me and tell me that I didn't make it easier for him."

Ugh. Is she really having this conversation? Thankfully, she's saved from having to deal with Chat Noir trying to be all nice and 'not your fault' and stuff when they emerge onto the walkway above the courtyard and freeze.

"Oh," Chloé says faintly. There are little devils everywhere, either already transformed and attacking each other with shrill shrieks or curled up and trying to fend off the dark thoughts before inevitably succumbing. On the opposite side to them is Little Devil, perched daintily on the railing as she surveys the chaos with a wicked little smile.

"Well, at least you can say that you got an interesting first akuma," Chat Noir says with the best fake grin that Chloé's ever seen. And considering who she is, she's the queen of fake smiles. "Rena Rouge got a bunch of cloning monsters. And Carapace just had a spider to deal with."

"My first akuma was Malediktator," Chloé says.

"Oh, right. Queen Bee and all. My meowstake."

Chloé shoots him a poisonous look. "And I'd prefer the spider, to be honest."

"I wouldn't."

"Only because you were stuck in her web for the whole battle."

"Thanks for that." His smile this time is more blatantly fake, like he's not even trying to pretend anymore. "I seem to get stuck a lot. And now I couldn't even help my lady because I left her –" He breaks off, like finishing his sentence will give himself away. Chloé just squints at him. There's only one person who had tried to help Marinette but had been forced to leave.

"If you're who I think you are," she says, "then both Marinette and I told you to leave even though you didn't want to. And Little Devil told me that she's sparing the both of us because we were the only ones who went after her."

Chat Noir's so stiff that one tap could probably shatter him like glass. Chloé wants to do a victory dance at knowing both secret identities, but such an undignified action would be beneath her.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," she says airily.

"How'd you figure it out? Ladybug doesn't even know who I am!"

"Marinette? Think you're Chat Noir?" Chloé scoffs. "Please. That girl's crushing on you so hard that it's a miracle she hasn't melted yet when you smile at her."

Okay, so it's kinda counterproductive to her own goals of securing Adrien for herself. But honestly, learning that Adrien is Chat Noir kind of turns her off because she simply can't be seen with anyone who makes puns that annoying and awful. And on a more serious note, knowing that he's Chat Noir comes with the realisation that there's no chance he'll ever be into her when he's pining after Ladybug, whose identity he now knows. The stunned look on his face just confirms that. And Chloé Bourgeois doesn't do second place.

She also just wants her friend to be happy, not that she'd ever say that out loud. She doesn't need people thinking she's soft or something.

"If you think you're useless, you've got another thing coming," is what she finally says when Chat Noir says nothing.

"Ladybug can get the job done just as well with Rena Rouge or Carapace or Queen Bee," he argues. "You literally saw me under Malediktator's control when you were Queen Bee."

"And then we all got akumatised and you didn't," Chloé says. "And all the times you've been put down is because you were protecting Ladybug so she could get the akuma. Which isn't healthy behaviour, but whatever. Look, she needs you just as much as you need her. I see how she talks about you in interviews. I see how well you two work together in battles. There can't ever be another Chat Noir, just like I can't be another Ladybug. Even if another person was better with Chat Noir's powers, she wouldn't _want_ another Chat Noir."

Chat Noir – Adrien – stares at her in a new light. Then he beams and pulls Chloé into a quick hug.

"I knew you had a heart in there," he says.

"Ugh, stop it, you're going to wrinkle my outfit!" Chloé says. Even though she now knows this is Adrien, there's just something about Chat Noir that makes it easy for her to not think of him as Adrien. Which is probably how Marinette never clued in as to who her partner is. "I didn't do it so we could be all sunshine and rainbows. I did it because if Little Devil hits you, I don't need to be dealing with devil dead weight. You better fight that off or you'll hear about it."

But Chat Noir's annoying smirk lets her know that he doesn't buy that excuse one bit. Huffing, Chloé flips her hair and turns away.

"The akuma's in her cravat," she says. "It was the handkerchief she was using to make a mess of her face."

"Well, we can't stand around all day," Chat Noir says. "Let's get down there and have a devil of a time."

"Chat, I swear!" Chloé huffs, following him as he runs around the walkway to Little Devil. Looks like stealth is out of the question. Then again, with so many little devils, it would probably be impossible to sneak around without at least one of them noticing and alerting Little Devil.

"Marinette!" Chat Noir skids to a halt in front of Little Devil, who looks around with a lazy smile. Chloé wants to slap him. He's totally forgotten that he's Chat Noir, not Adrien, and Little Devil only promised to spare Adrien. But she can't exactly yell that at him now, can she? Ugh, she so shouldn't have let on that Marinette was Ladybug. Both of them are very much aware of how knowing identities messes things up.

"Hello, Chat Noir," Little Devil greets. "I'd ask if you're here to give me your Miraculous, but we both know the answer to that." Her gaze slides over Chloé and she frowns. "Who are _you_?"

"_I'm_ being Ladybug, since the real Ladybug can't really make it," Chloé sniffs, hands on her hips. Little Devil's face contorts but not maliciously; more like she's working out who this Ladybug could be.

"That won't make a difference, Chloé," she says. Wow, maybe Chloé needs to give Marinette more credit. "You just saved me a lot of trouble by bringing the Miraculous to me."

Chloé's slightly worried that Hawkmoth will figure things out through his mental connection to his akuma. Then again, Hawkmoth's kind of proved himself to be an idiot when it comes to making akumas who do more than just yell for the Miraculouses and cause a bit of trouble, so she's not _too_ worried. Heroes' Day was an exception but whatever. He totally had help there.

"Marinette, why are you doing this?" Chat Noir says almost pleadingly. Chloé shoots him a warning look out of the corner of her eye because this is _not_ how he's going to reveal himself if she can help it.

"I made them who they are," Little Devil shrugs, turning back to survey her domain. "Demons who'll go for the throat as soon as you show weakness. I gave them everything, but as soon as I needed their support, they turned their backs on me. This is what it means to be their friend. They'll take and take but when it's time to give? Poof, they're gone."

"Everyone messes up," Chloé says, staying well away from the reflex of shouting that it's not true because invalidating an akuma's feelings is a sure-fire way to annoy them. "I know that better than anyone else. But you gave me a second chance when I didn't deserve it."

"You don't hide behind broken promises and poisonous lies, Chloé Bourgeois," Little Devil hisses. Her narrowed eyes bore into Chloé's, as though she can read Chloé's soul from just a glance. "You never pretended to be my friend. You never turned an entire class against me because of compulsive lies. I can trust you to be nasty. I can't trust the others to be nice. Except for Adrien."

Chat Noir's face twitches. Thankfully, Little Devil doesn't seem to notice.

"I gave you a chance, Chloé," the akuma says. "But clearly you're against me if you're wearing those earrings."

Maybe if Chloé had more experience than a few rounds as Queen Bee and if Chat Noir wasn't distracted by knowing that this was his lady, they wouldn't have been so thoroughly taken by surprise. Before either of them can react, Little Devil brandishes her pitchfork and tiny devils, who look eerily like corrupted versions of Tikki with horns, come flying out from behind Little Devil and latch on to Chloé and Chat Noir.

Immediately, the whispers start.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own ML.**

**Chat Noir's puns are so horrible pls save me**

_Horrible_

_Nasty_

_No one even likes you. They only respect you because you're Queen Bee_

_Everyone celebrated when you left_

"I _am_ Queen Bee!" Chloé argues, huddled in a ball with her hands over her ears. Nearby, Chat Noir is curled up, practically pulling his hair out. "If people respect Queen Bee, they respect me!"

But fighting the voices just seems to make them stronger. The little devils on Chloé's shoulders cackle, completely bypassing the hands covering her ears, while Chat Noir's groans sound distorted and far away, as though Chloé is underwater. The exposed skin on her thighs is starting to turn a splotchy red, like blood is beginning to pool and spread, and Chloé would probably be more concerned if she wasn't dealing with nasty voices in her head.

_You have no friends_

_No one can stand you_

_You make messes everywhere_

"Stop! I can't take it anymore!" Chloé cries. "I know I make messes!"

"_You can fix your own messes, if that's what you want."_ Ladybug's voice echoes through Chloé's head. But she can't. She can't fix her messes. She's a bitch, a nasty person, everyone knows that –

Wait.

Of course.

Little Devil's power turns those who succumb to their dark thoughts. Alya probably hadn't even thought that she had that dark side. But Chloé knows she's a bitch, so why do these words hurt so much? Maybe it's not positive thoughts that fights off these devils. Maybe it's owning these thoughts.

"Yes, I have been horrible!" Chloé announces. "I know I'm a bitch and no one likes me! But I'm not going to let that be me anymore! I'm a hero and I'm going to prove it!"

For a moment, there's silence. It feels like the world's collectively holding its breath, like time itself has stopped…or maybe Chloé's just being a drama queen. Either way, the devils on her shoulders let out tiny, inhuman shrieks and explode in poofs of red smoke, replaced by little pink angels that look so much like Tikki that Hawkmoth has to be denser than bricks at this point to not realise. The angels hover around Chloé's face for a few seconds, flapping their little white wings, before zipping back towards Little Devil like she's yanking them on strings. She waves her pitchfork and the angels mutate back into devils with little screams and another puff of red smoke.

"Chat Noir!" Chloé crawls over to Chat, who's moaning pathetically with a face that's already half red. Aware that she's running against the clock, she gently slaps his face, her stomach lurching when his eyes crack open and the bright green is yellower than it should be. "Don't fight the voices! Own them!"

"Can't," Chat Noir mumbles. A shiver wracks his body and the red creeps over his skin even more. "Useless…no one likes the real me…"

"Oh my god," Chloé says. She shoots a look at Little Devil, who's sitting on the railing again and surveying her chaotic domain with her black lips curved in a wicked little smile. Whether the akuma's listening or not, Chloé has no idea, but now she has to choose her words carefully so that she doesn't give away anything about Chat Noir being Adrien Agreste. "Okay. Listen up, you mangy cat, because I so didn't sign up to play therapist. Tell me what they're saying and then repeat what I say."

For a moment, Chat Noir doesn't say anything. But then he draws in a shaky breath and croaks, "I always mess up. Ladybug has to do all the work and I keep getting caught because…because Chat Noir is freedom."

"Easy fix," Chloé says. "You'll just take Chat Noir more seriously when you're in a fight. Come on, say it."

"I'll – I'll take Chat Noir more seriously when I'm in a fight." Chat Noir shudders again.

"Good. Next!"

"My – my father doesn't love me."

"That's on him, not you. Come on."

"That's on him…not me…"

"Good. What else?"

"Ladybug doesn't need me – she has other allies –"

"What did I tell you earlier? Say it. You. Are. Irreplaceable. To. Ladybug."

Chat just shakes his head and curls in on himself, so Chloé gently slaps him again. "I'm not here to coddle you, fur ball! Say it!"

"I – I'm irreplaceable to Ladybug."

"Again!"

"I'm irreplaceable to Ladybug."

"Again!"

"I'm irreplaceable to Ladybug!" The red spreading across Chat Noir's face immediately starts to recede, and he slumps on the ground with a gasp.

"Colour me impressed," Little Devil says, looking back over at them while toying with the prongs of her pitchfork. "I never would have thought that Chloé Bourgeois could ever fight off an akuma rather than cause it."

"I know I'm horrible," Chloé says. "I don't need a devil to tell me that. Get up, alley cat! Think up a plan!"

"Yeah, chaton, think up a plan," Little Devil says in amusement.

"Me?" Chat Noir groans, stumbling to his feet. "Ladybug makes the plans, not me!"

"You literally just swore you'd take your superhero stuff more seriously," Chloé says. "Come on, you've done this for longer than me. Think of something!"

"Uh…" Chat Noir scratches the back of his neck in a very Adrien-like manner, while both Little Devil and Chloé stare at him. Chloé can't help but feel like Little Devil's getting major kicks out of their dysfunctional team, which makes sense considering that she's the real Ladybug and probably would've already taken the akuma down by now. "Lucky Charm?"

"Ugh. Fine. Lucky Charm!" Chloé throws her yo-yo up into the air and receives a ladybug-patterned smartphone in return.

"Uh, I don't think you've got Marinette's phone number," Chat Noir says. Chloé just glowers and presses the unlock button to make the screen light up. The background is a selfie of Adrien and Marinette, with Adrien beaming at the camera and Marinette looking like she's died and gone to Heaven from being squished to his side. Whether this is a photo that's been taken on one of their phones or something that Marinette wishes had happened, Chloé has no idea. All she knows is that there needs to be a reason for it being on a phone rather than just a physical photograph.

"I could think of at least two possible plans I'd do in your position," Little Devil says rather patronisingly. "What's your plan, Chloé?"

At a loss, Chloé does the only thing she can think of: she tucks the phone away, because of course she gave her suit proper pockets, and then charges at Little Devil to grab the cravat. However, not only does Little Devil possess incredible skills from her experience as Ladybug, but she's also got the enhancement that akumas give their victims. Maybe if it had only been one of the two, Chloé might have stood a chance. Instead, Little Devil just giggles and easily parries every single punch and kick that Chloé throws as though she can predict exactly what Chloé's going to do. Which might just have something to do with the fact that Little Devil is the _real_ Ladybug.

Great. Just great. Why does Chloé always get the hard stuff?

"You'll never be a real hero, Chloé Bourgeois." Little Devil slams Chloé into the ground and keeps her down with one heeled boot on her chest and pitchfork aimed at her throat. "You'll never even be half the real Ladybug. At least, that's what my little devils tell me."

"Meowch," Chat Noir says from behind Little Devil. Chloé catches sight of a few black sparks over Little Devil's shoulder and realises that he's most likely activated his Cataclysm. She just has to avoid letting Little Devil catch on. "That was tailtally uncalled for."

"Chat Noir!" Chloé growls, realising that they're severely outmatched. And she still can't think of a plan for that stupid phone. "Get us _out_ of here and stop with your stupid puns before I grab her pitchfork and kill you myself!"

Little Devil just laughs. "Your puns are awful, chaton." She kneels on Chloé's chest to grab the Ladybug Miraculous, her knee digging into the collarbone just below Chloé's throat. The akuma gets one earring off and then reaches for the other, the magic beginning to dissipate from Chloé. Chloé growls and tries to lash out at Little Devil, but she's firmly held in place by Little Devil's knee and calf.

"Don't you mean clawful, princess?"

There's a cracking sound above them. Little Devil looks up and only has a split second to dive away from Chloé before the walkway ceiling starts crashing down, and Chloé would have been utter toast if Chat Noir hadn't swooped in to grab her before a large chunk of stone can turn her gorgeous head into a smear on the ground.

"Cutting it a bit – aiiieee!" Chloé's snarky comment is cut off by Chat Noir hurling her down into the infested courtyard. Fuming, she makes a wobbly landing and starts viciously cutting her way through the little devils, wondering if she should thank Chat Noir for throwing her where Little Devil wouldn't think to look for her or kick him in the shins for throwing her into the lion's den. Honestly, how does Ladybug put up with his harebrained schemes?

_His harebrained scheme saved you when you charged in like an idiot,_ says a small voice. Chloé just rolls her eyes, punches the last of the devils away, then ducks into a doorway to watch the fight between Little Devil and Chat Noir. They're sparring on the walkway perpendicular to the destroyed one, pretty much evenly matched, and it strikes Chloé just how inexperienced she is in comparison to Ladybug and Chat Noir. How…unexceptional.

"Shut up," she mutters. "The last thing you need is for a devil to get you again."

Chat Noir punches Little Devil in the face, sending her crashing into the wall. It occurs to Chloé that he could easily have thrown her across the courtyard if he chose, and she sighs and resists the urge to thump her head against the door. That fur ball is _holding back_ to avoid hurting Marinette – _Ladybug_ – even though she clearly doesn't have a fraction of the same courtesy to extend to him.

The beeping of her earrings jolts Chloé back to earth, and she darts down the hall and into the first classroom she comes across, which is thankfully empty. She pulls the phone out and turns it all over, like this'll somehow reveal some miraculous secret that she can use to take down Little Devil. Nothing. She brings up the lock screen photo of Adrien and Marinette. Nothing. How could Little Devil have formulated two plans when she hadn't even seen the photo? Chloé silently curses Marinette for going and getting herself akumatised and leaving Chloé and Adrien to deal with the aftermath as a dysfunctional team. The more she works with Chat Noir, the more Chloé realises that she and Adrien just aren't compatible as A Thing.

"Great," Chloé grumbles, hoisting herself on a desk so she can sprawl dramatically. "I'll just get Adrikins to call her and spin a whole sob story to distract her so I can grab the akuma. That'll work. Great plan, Chloé."

She pauses and frowns. Call her…what had Little Devil said in that bathroom? _"Everyone has a little devil on their shoulder. I just need to make them listen."_

"Of course!" Chloé says to herself. Now she knows why she was given that phone and that picture of Adrien and Marinette, as fake as it might be. The picture itself doesn't have to be real for her to realise what she needs to do. With one last beep, her transformation washes away, taking the phone with it, and Tikki lurches out of the earrings and wobbles in mid-air, panting.

"I hope you have a plan," Tikki gasps. "And some cookies. I need to recharge."

"Marinette's probably got some in her purse," Chloé says. "Come on, let's go wandering around the dangerous school so you can get your sugar fix."

Tikki shoots her probably the closest thing to a bitchface that the sweet kwami can muster, but Chloé's not here to coddle. Instead, she gestures at Tikki to hide, which the kwami does by burrowing into her ponytail.

"Great, my hair is _ruined_," Chloé whines as she slips out of the classroom and heads for the bathroom.

"Your hair is the least of our problems, Chloé," Tikki says. "Do you have a plan?"

"I do. I just need Adrien to make it work."

"I'm sure Chat Noir is recovering somewhere else –"

"No, not Chat Noir. Adrien. He's the only one who's got a chance of getting near her without her zapping us. Marinette wanted someone to listen, so she's going to get someone to listen."

Although Chloé can't see the kwami's face, she just knows that Tikki is beaming. She can literally feel the happy energy radiating off the damn thing. But she refuses to admit that she actually likes the feeling, instead banging the bathroom door open louder than necessary and making a beeline for Marinette's dropped purse. Luckily, there are two cookies stashed in there, no doubt for Tikki, and the kwami chows down on them faster than humanly possible for something her size as compared to the cookies. Honestly Chloé kind of admires her determination to save Marinette. It kind of makes her miss Pollen, to be honest.

"I bet you'll be glad to have Marinette back," Chloé says, well aware that she's displaying envy like some commoner. "I have to be the worst Ladybug you've ever had, right?"

"You're not bad!" Tikki insists straight away. "You're just inexperienced! In fact, you've got an advantage because you already know how Ladybug works!"

"You don't have to lie to make me feel better," Chloé says thickly, crossing her arms as though this can fight off the stinging in her eyes. "I already know that Marinette Dupain-Cheng is way more exceptional than I'll ever be. Everyone likes her, she caught the attention of Gabriel Agreste _and_ my maman, she's got Adrikins crushing on her because she's _Ladybug_, an amazing superhero…she even gets her own little kidney bean best friend. Me? I'm always second best. I don't even get to keep my kwami."

The look on Tikki's little face makes it very clear that she noticed Chloé's choice of words in saying kwami rather than Miraculous. But she doesn't say anything, so Chloé concludes her rant.

"And now I have to step up and fill in for her and I can't even do _that_ properly. _Marinette_ would've taken the akuma down ages ago."

Tikki says nothing, simply frowning at Chloé while finishing off her snack. Chloé wants to look away but there's something about the kwami's piercing gaze that just won't let her.

"What?" she snaps.

"Then maybe you shouldn't compare yourself to Marinette," Tikki says, floating closer to Chloé. "You're Chloé Bourgeois, not Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You stepped up to be Ladybug when you could have accepted Little Devil's offer to not interfere so that she'd leave you alone. You took responsibility for your father's akumatisation and for ruining Marinette's present for Mlle Bustier. You took on the mantle of Queen Bee to help fight Hawkmoth's army."

"Yeah but –"

"Those are all things that Chloé Bourgeois has done!" Tikki pokes Chloé in the nose. "Not Marinette! I love Marinette so much, and she's done so many amazing things, but you're doing great things too! You don't have to be Marinette, Chloé."

"Okay, okay, whatever," Chloé says, if only to get Tikki to shut up. She can handle the social game of careful compliments or flattery to align oneself in certain circles or to gain an advantage. But having the embodiment of good luck and creation genuinely listing all her virtues is too much to handle, even if her soul does feel ten times lighter between that and overcoming the little devils earlier. "Let's go save Marinette so you can get her back."

As they leave, Chloé decides to be gracious and let Tikki rest a bit more, so she traverses the super dangerous halls as herself rather than Ladybug. She idly wonders if Tikki's Ladybug good luck power rubs off on people when untransformed, because it only takes two tries to find the classroom that Adrien's hiding out in. A tiny black cat floats near his head, stuffing an enormous wedge of Camembert cheese down his throat.

"Gross!" Chloé wrinkles her nose, while Tikki wriggles out of her hair to go and greet the black cat kwami. "Now I know why you always stink."

"Plagg loves the stuff," Adrien says with a sheepish laugh. "So, do you have a plan?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Chloé says rather smugly. "You really should work on your planning skills, _Chat Noir_."

Adrien glowers at her but says nothing about that. Instead, he says, "Plagg, are you nearly done? We can't let Marinette cause more damage than we can help."

"Actually, I need Adrien Agreste for this plan to work," Chloé says. "Marinette promised to spare Adrien, not Chat Noir. And really, what were you thinking, forgetting that she doesn't know who Chat Noir is? She was ready to put you in the ground, Adrien."

"I – I forgot." Adrien looks down. "I just saw Marinette – _my lady_ – hurting, and I –"

"– had to rush in to save her. This is exactly why Ladybug didn't want you to tell each other who you are. That's why Hawkmoth used _my family_ against me on Heroes' Day to distract me enough that Despair Bear and Dark Cupid got me. When you're behind the mask, you're not Adrien anymore!"

"What, like you're not Chloé anymore when you're Queen Bee?" Adrien retorts. Chloé smirks at Adrien finally biting back.

"And just how do you think I know what a bad idea it is?" she says. "But it's not such a big deal if Hawkmoth knows who Queen Bee is. If he finds out who Chat Noir is, though?"

"Look, I appreciate that you care about me," Adrien says. "But can we just go? What could you need me for that you can't use Chat Noir for? You think Marinette will really just let me get close to her?"

"She told me to my face that she'd spare you," Chloé says. "And I finally realised what that phone and picture meant."

"I've never taken that picture with Marinette before in my life," Adrien protests.

"That doesn't matter. The picture was telling me that you're the only one who can get close to her. Even though she spared me, there's no way she'd trust me like she trusts you."

"And the phone?"

"Marinette just wants someone to listen to her." Chloé's hands land on her hips so that she can look extra smug because she totally deserves it after coming up with this plan. "That's why she was akumatised, right? None of our classmates would listen to her because of Liar Rossi."

"Chloé," Adrien chides.

"Oh, hush," Chloé says. "She deserves it and you know it. I might be an utter bitch, but I never made Marinette cry and got her akumatised. Anyway, she told me when she got akumatised that everyone has a little devil on their shoulder and she's just going to make them listen."

"Of course!" Adrien's face lights up. "I have to listen to her and let her talk. And you'll grab the akuma, right?"

"No, I'll just stand there and look pretty," Chloé says snarkily.

"Sarcasm doesn't work if it's something you'd actually do," Adrien says. Chloé rolls her eyes.

"Whatever, alley cat. You ready, Tikki?"

"Definitely!" Tikki says, a look of sheer determination on her tiny face.

"Spots on!"

Once she's transformed, she scoops Adrien up so that he won't fall behind, making sure that Plagg is safely hidden with him before she breaks into a sprint down the hall towards the courtyard. Little Devil is where Chat Noir had left her, perched on the undestroyed railing to watch the chaos with glee, and she smiles when Chloé uses her yo-yo to launch them up there and sets Adrien down.

"Welcome back, _Ladybug_," Little Devil says. Chloé holds her yo-yo out like a shield in response, even though fighting is possibly the best way to totally ruin their plan. "I knew you'd be back after recharging. Ladybug just can't leave the akuma alone, can she? It's her _job_. I'm sure chaton will be along soon enough." Her smile widens when she catches sight of Adrien and – wait, is that genuine joy? "Adrien!"

"Marinette." Adrien's mouth droops. "I'm so sorry I left you. I should have skipped class –"

"Oh, no, don't be silly!" Little Devil giggles in a gross imitation of Marinette. "I don't blame you at all. You came after me in the first place."

"Because I care about you." Adrien takes a cautious step towards Little Devil, hands up as unthreateningly as possible. "You're one of my best friends, Marinette, and it's totally uncool that everyone treated you like that. Especially Lila."

"Lila? Pfft." Little Devil smirks down at one of the devils in the courtyard, who's in the centre and scratching at any other devils that come near it. Chloé wonders how she can even single out which devil the akuma is staring at before chalking it to enhanced senses. "Honestly, Lila was just an annoyance. She was never going to like me. You know what really hurt? Having everyone else turn on me like I was nothing to them!"

"Yeah, that was completely wrong," Adrien agrees. He takes another careful step towards her, Chloé following ever so slowly behind so as not to alert her. "I'm on your side, Marinette. But this isn't the way to fix things!"

"Isn't it?" Little Devil tilts her head. "You know, maybe Ladybug and Chat Noir have been wrong all along. I felt so powerless…so unheard…but Hawkmoth fixed that! He let me make myself heard, let me make everyone hurt just like they made me!"

"Do you really think that hurting others is the way to fix it?" Adrien says. "Revenge, violence…it's not the answer. You're not the Marinette who smiles and brings pastries to class and cheers everyone up and goes out of her way to make me laugh when I'm having a bad day."

"Being that Marinette got me hurt! Used!" Little Devil stomps the ground hard enough to leave a large crack, which Chloé eyes warily so that she can jump away with Adrien if it grows bigger. "Nobody listened to me! The girls ignored me when I insisted that they stop helping me get together with you because you liked Kagami and I respected your wishes, because who cares about Marinette's voice? No, I'm just a shallow teenage girl who lets herself be defined by a boy! If that was the case then why wasn't I mean to Kagami, huh? I respected Kagami because she respected you!"

Adrien looks like he's going to faint on the spot. Chloé supposes that it's one thing to hear that his friend is crushing on him from someone else and another thing entirely to hear it directly from his friend's mouth. The fact that Marinette is the real Ladybug and he's crushing hard on Ladybug probably isn't helping either.

Little Devil puts on a simpering voice. "But Marinette Dupain-Cheng is boy-crazy and hates Chloé and Lila because she's a _jealous fangirl_, not because they _bullied me_! I even stood up to Chloé for the class, but they conveniently forget _that_ when Lila comes along with her _lies_ that don't even make sense – and that's the worst part of it all, that they're so ridiculous, like that napkin lie! Oh, unless I'm making a picnic where they get free food, then they're so quick to jump and help out! Otherwise, it was Marinette this, Marinette help me, Marinette, Marinette, _Marinette_!"

Chloé and Adrien exchange startled looks as Little Devil screams, resulting in every single devil in the courtyard screaming in fresh pain as well. If Marinette's been bottling all this up along with being Ladybug, it's no wonder that when she snaps, she's one of the most dangerous akumas that have been around. She'd downed both Ladybug and Chat Noir in one hit and if Marinette had been in Chloe's place, it's likely that she would have been blindsided by her dark side like Alya was.

Little Devil tilts her head as a purple outline appears over her face, and Adrien clenches his fists at the sight. Chloé, who's edged even closer to Little Devil, glares at him to make sure he doesn't stuff it all up.

"Patience, Hawkmoth," Little Devil snaps. "I want Adrien to _hear me_ first. Then I'll take Ladybug's Miraculous and go find Chat Noir." Another short pause. "I only lost them last time because I underestimated Chat Noir, but he's not even here now! And Chloé is inexperienced!"

Oh, if only she knew.

"I do hear you, Marinette," Adrien says as the purple mask fades. "And I'm sorry if I ever gave you the impression that I don't. But…this isn't you. You're always so cute whenever I see you. You made me our friendship charm – see, I still have it!" He pulls a pink and green beaded charm out of his pocket. Super ugly, but whatever works, Chloé supposes. "I carry it around everywhere because it's my good luck charm! You brighten up my day whenever I see you, because I know I can count on you to be sweet and amazing."

"No one listens to me when I'm sweet and amazing!"

"Please, Marinette." Adrien's now so close to Little Devil that he could touch her with next to no effort if he wanted. "I'll always listen to you. You know that, right? The problem is that you were expected to bottle up your feelings and smile for everyone else, because everybody saw you as untouchable Marinette. But that can change. We can find healthier ways to make people listen to you! But this?" Adrien gestures at the chaotic courtyard. "This isn't healthy!"

Little Devil's eyes bore into Adrien's, the deep blue watery as she no doubt struggles to hold back the tide of emotions before they can overwhelm her. She lets out an otherworldly shriek, which every other little devil in the courtyard mirrors as though they're feeling her pain, and she shoves Adrien into the wall, though not hard enough to hurt him since the gasp he lets out is more surprised than pained. Chloé tenses, ready to spring into action to save Adrien, but Little Devil just wails and clenches her fists on either side of Adrien's head, her own head bowed. In response, Adrien carefully wraps his hands around her blood red upper arms, causing her to screech again and headbutt his chest with her forehead. He looks a little alarmed at how close her horns are to his throat, but thankfully he doesn't move away and upset her even more.

Chloé seizes the opportunity to sneak up on the distressed akuma and slip the cravat from around her neck. With a swift tear, Chloé is holding two pieces of cloth, from which a glowing, purple-black butterfly emerges. Chloé's lip curls at the sight. She's very much familiar with these little _things_, as much as she wishes she wasn't.

"Oooh, does that mean I get to say the thing?" she says, bouncing on the spot. "No more evildoing for you, little akuma! Time to de-evilise!" She uses her yo-yo to snatch the akuma out of the air so that it doesn't fly off. "Gotcha!"

"Ladybug does it better," Adrien says, his hands having moved from Little Demon's arms to her back as he holds her in a hug. Chloé just pokes her tongue out, not that she'd do such a commoner thing around people who aren't him, and she presses the yo-yo to release the purified akuma.

"Can I do the thing without a Lucky Charm?" Chloé says. Adrien shrugs.

"I've never seen it done without one."

"Ugh. Lucky Charm!"

This time, Chloé is provided with a small hand mirror. Frowning, she turns it all around, trying to figure out what the power's trying to tell her, but all she sees is her own reflection. Maybe it's referencing what a vain bitch she is, although she prefers 'confident'. Or maybe –

Oh. Little smart alec. It's probably referencing that "be yourself!" speech that Tikki had given her, telling her that she's good enough and right now, what the situation needs is her. Whatever. Okay, so it's kind of poetic and sweet, but if she keeps staring at the mirror for much longer then Adrien's going to grow suspicious. And now that she knows his Chat Noir side, she knows he'll never stop pestering her.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" Chloé announces, tossing the mirror into the air gracefully. At least, she thinks it's graceful. Which means it is. The mirror explodes in a swarm of ladybugs, which zoom around the school and fix all the damage that had been done while reverting all the devils back to their normal selves. Little Devil is encased in a purple-black aura and when it fades, Marinette is left in her place, blinking owlishly.

"I – what?" she says. "What am I – oh." She droops. "I was akumatised. But how am I –?" She catches sight of Chloé and her eyes positively bulge out of their sockets. "_Chloé_?"

"Yes, yes, I saved your butt, I'm totally a hero," Chloé says. "Come on, Adrikins, give her to me."

"Adrien?" Marinette freezes, her brain only just realising whose arms she's wrapped in, and her eyes follow the arms around her up to the face next to hers. She lets out an ear-piercing shriek and jumps away, stumbling over her own feet and nearly tripping if not for Chloé grabbing her. "I – oh no – I hurt did – I mean – did I Adrien – _gah_!"

Thankfully, Adrien takes pity on her and smiles, reaching out to slide an arm around her. Chloé doesn't want to begin to imagine what's going to happen when Marinette learns that Adrien knows about her crush.

"You didn't hurt me at all, Marinette!" he says. "You actually refused to hurt me, so Chloé asked for my help because she wasn't used to being Ladybug. You should go with Chloé so she can make sure you're alright. I'll save your seat up the back of the class so you don't have to sit alone."

Down in the courtyard, the commoners are looking up at them and gasps and whispers are flying around. Chloé sighs loudly. "Adrikins, _please_ deal with them, would you? Tell them the story we agreed on. Also –" She holds out a fist. Grinning, Adrien fist-bumps her and they say, "Pound it!" together.

Chloé got to do it with both superheroes. And she knows who both of them are. She _was _one of them. Her life is now complete. She's cooler than literally anyone else here, not that she wasn't before.

With one last smile at Marinette, Adrien heads down the stairs to confront the masses, leaving Chloé free to drag Marinette down the hall.

"Official story to explain why there's a different Ladybug when you got akumatised is that Ladybug got caught in her civilian form and gave the earrings to me, since she could trust me as Queen Bee," Chloé says when they're in yet another empty classroom. Story of her life today, honestly. "You're welcome."

"Thanks," Marinette says faintly, no doubt still in shock from her evilised rampage. "But…I don't understand why you'd help me, Chloé. Telling everyone off in the cafeteria is one thing but you – you hate me!"

"That was just to annoy Lila," Chloé says. "And it's more like I just didn't even care about you after you stood up to Maman and threw that party. And now that I know you're Ladybug –"

Marinette jumps and looks around wildly, as though expecting the entire student body to be huddled outside, ears pressed to the door and windows to eavesdrop. Chloé sighs loudly, then grimaces when the earrings beep.

"I'm literally wearing your earrings," she says. "That I saw you throw away to keep from Hawkmoth. And Adrikins has the others under control, don't worry. Spots off."

As soon as the transformation falls and Tikki is free, she squeals Marinette's name and darts over, nuzzling against her face. Marinette's face lights up as she hugs Tikki back, and Chloé takes the opportunity to slip the earrings off and hold them out.

"Thank you, Chloé," Marinette says sincerely, taking them back and reattaching them. "You were super brave to step up and be Ladybug."

"Ugh, gag me," Chloé says. "My outfit was way better than yours and I impressed Adrien, that's all."

But Marinette doesn't look fooled for a second. Ugh, she's actually being a _decent person_ about this. But then her face falls and she looks down.

"I'm sorry you had to do that," she says. "If I'd been able to control myself better –"

"Did I or did I not kick your butt about apologising for things that aren't your fault?" Chloé snaps. "It's Hawkmoth's fault, not yours. You can't help your emotions. Just like I made it easier for him to akumatise half the people he got to, but it's his fault because he did the akumas. And you had every right to break, since you're such a self-sacrificing idiot that you spend so much time putting everyone else before yourself."

"I could have endangered everyone!" Marinette protests. "An akumatised Ladybug –"

"But you didn't. You took the earrings off. Stop blaming yourself for feeling stuff, Dupain-Cheng, or I'll have to take back my offer of friendship."

"Friendship?" Marinette squints at Chloé. "Why would you want to be friends with me? Is it because I'm Ladybug? I know you're one of her biggest fans."

"Okay, one, I'm her _biggest_ fan," Chloé says. "No 'one of' about it. And two, I wouldn't go making friends with Marinette Dupain-Cheng just because she's Ladybug. In fact, it's not even friendship. It's an alliance and a truce because Lila's a pain in both our butts. It'll…" She scrambles for an excuse. "It'll annoy Lila and everyone else, that's all."

Again, Marinette isn't fooled. She just smiles and nuzzles Tikki again before freezing.

"What now?" Chloé sighs.

"Adrien!" Marinette shrieks.

"Oh please, if you're going to go all lovestruck –"

"It's not that!" Marinette tugs at her hair and tries to sit down on a seat, only to miss and crash to the floor. She jumps up, promptly banging her thigh on the desk, and gives up trying to be a functional human being. "You told him to tell everyone the story you'd agreed on!"

"Yep."

"Which means – he knows you didn't just stumble on Ladybug's civilian form!"

"Uh huh." Oh boy, this is just delicious to watch.

"And that means he'll know that the real Ladybug was conveniently missing when I was akumatised!"

"That's right." Chloé starts examining her nails and she shoots a smirk at Tikki when Marinette's not looking. Tikki tries to look disapproving but fails horribly, undoubtedly just as amused by Marinette's freak-out as Chloé is.

"_Adrien knows that I'm Ladybug_!"

"That's just scratching the surface," Chloé says gleefully. "You should totally tell him that I told you to ask him about Camembert."

"It _is_ unfair if you don't know," Tikki says sagely.

"Camembert?" Marinette's left eye twitches. "What does_ Camembert_ have to do with my secret identity? I'll never be able to look him in the eye again! We'll never get married and have a beautiful house and three children and a hamster named –"

"Kill me now," Chloé complains loudly. "Honestly, I don't think Adrien's gonna hate you because you're Ladybug. He loves Ladybug, remember?"

"But I got akumatised!" Marinette waves her hands in the air. "Even Ladybug's not strong enough! He won't respect me anymore and I won't be able to face him and I don't even remember what I said to him – please tell me I didn't tell him I like him, oh my god –"

"Tikki, does Cataclysm work on a person or was Volpina just lying as usual?" Chloé sighs.

"Chloé, don't be so mean," Tikki scolds. "Marinette has a lot of feelings to work through. Speaking of which, you should probably get to class, Marinette. Adrien's waiting for you!"

Chloé's expecting Marinette to freak out even more at that, so it's a surprise when she just takes deep gulps of air and lets out a squeak.

"Okay," Marinette says in a high voice. "I can do this. It's no big deal. He just…knows I'm Ladybug. Who got akumatised. And told him things I don't remember."

"Trust me, I don't think he'll be disappointed," Chloé mutters, linking her arm with Marinette's so she can tug the other girl out of the classroom. "And don't get used to this touchy-feely stuff. This is just the best way to get back at everyone without being mean, since you're so sickly sweet. Ugh."

"Uh huh." Marinette's voice is still a little high.

Chloé's naturally a little wary about walking into their classroom arm-in-arm with someone who'd been her sworn enemy just hours earlier, but it's totally worth it to see the looks of utter shock on everyone's face at seeing the two girls walk in together without trying to tear the other's throat out.

"Marinette!" Mlle Bustier greets them at the door with a hand on Marinette's shoulder and a warm smile for both of them. Honestly, Chloé's got a real soft spot for their teacher, not that she'd dare admit it even under torture. "Are you feeling better? Will you be alright for class?"

Marinette looks around at their classmates, who are still staring at her. Up the back, Adrien's waiting as promised, and he smiles and waves when she catches his eye. Chloé's ready to gag at how Marinette will undoubtedly melt and die, but she's pleasantly surprised to see Marinette just hold her head high and nod.

"I'll be okay, Mlle Bustier," Marinette says. "I've got Chloé and Adrien to support me now."

Ugh, of course she'd still see Chloé as a friend even after Chloé insisted that this was a truce.

...Nah, who is Chloé kidding?

"Wonderful! Take your seats, girls. I won't punish you for being late."

"Yeah, for once it's not Marinette's fault that she's late," Chloé says as Marinette heads for the back of the room, determinedly not looking anyone in the eye. She wishes she could snap a picture of the look on Lila's face at seeing Marinette sitting next to Adrien at the back. Honestly, the utter fury and outrage would be the finest piece of art at the Louvre if someone was to paint it. Hmm, maybe she should get on her daddy's case about that

"Chloé," Mlle Bustier says quietly before Chloé can sit down. "You were very brave to step up and be Ladybug today when everyone needed you. You were _exceptional_."

"Of course I couldn't let everyone down when they relied on me," Chloé scoffs, preening at the praise. But she still can't help smiling as she takes her usual seat next to Sabrina, who tries to catch her eye but can't quite do so. Honestly, Chloé's going to officially forgive Sabrina that afternoon, because it hadn't been Chloé who Sabrina had turned her back on by sucking up to Lila. But not just yet.

Just when everyone's about to settle down and at least try to do their schoolwork –

"My tinnitus is gone! It's a miracle!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own ML.**

The attention of the entire class is immediately on Lila, who's jumped to her feet with her arms spread wide. Marinette clenches her teeth but then immediately starts to take deep breaths so that she doesn't lose her temper. As she'd learned this morning, no one's going to believe that Lila's lying, and getting angry will only bring another akuma. And she can't let that happen. Not when she's Ladybug, not when she's already caused enough trouble, and especially not when she might not even get her earrings off next time. Then Chat Noir will be alone in getting her akuma and freeing her so she can de-evilise it (assuming the akuma isn't in her earrings) and it's not that she doesn't have faith that he _couldn't_ do it, but rather she doesn't want him to be forced into that position. Having to fight an akumatised Chat Noir would absolutely break her heart.

"I can't believe it!" Lila continues. "It's a miracle! It's completely gone! I can hear properly again! It must have been the Miraculous Ladybug from earlier! I – I think it's best if I switch seats with Marinette. After all…" She looks down as though she's contrite, though Marinette's certain she's smiling brilliantly on the inside. "I did take Marinette's seat, which was totally uncool of me –"

"You didn't take her seat," Chloé scoffs. "Everyone else kicked her out of it, because clearly everything goody two-shoes Marinette Dupain-Cheng has done means nothing to them. Especially since she stood up to _me_ for that seat, and I _always_ get what I want."

"Chloé," Mlle Bustier chides. Marinette still can't believe that _Chloé Bourgeois_ is in her corner and actively sticking up for her. Maybe she's fallen into another dimension or something.

"Everyone knows that Miraculous Ladybug only fixes akuma damage," Adrien says. "There's no way that your tinnitus could be cured by Ladybug if you really did get it from saving Jagged Stone's kitten."

"I – it must just be amazing luck, then!" Lila says. "I mean, Ladybug and I are just the best of friends, everyone knows that, so of course her good luck would rub off on me!"

Chloé loudly and obviously rolls her eyes. When Marinette chances a peek at Adrien, the unimpressed look on his face makes heat pool in her stomach, and she has to look away or risk melting into a puddle of goo right then and there. Or having an extremely loud breakdown, since Adrien now knows that she's Ladybug and all.

"If Ladybug is your best friend then why were you akumatised into Volpina last time?" Adrien says. "She exposed your lie in front of me and I know you were Volpina, even if not that many people know that."

"We had a minor falling out," Lila says, bowing her head. "It was my fault. I said something she didn't like, so she denounced me as a friend. But we had a good, long talk after she saved me, and we made up!"

How can people be _buying_ this? Marinette knows the power of telling others what they want to hear – she'd dealt with that during her campaign for class president – but _really_?

"So, if you _were_ Volpina and you're Ladybug's best friend, why did you create that illusion of her being akumatised on Heroes' Day?" Chloé says. "Come on, we all know now that it was a fake and Volpina does fakes. Sabrina told me that Ladybug told her that it had to be Volpina, which Adrien says is _you_. And you were supposed to be in Achu at that time, if I remember correctly." She shoots a smirk back at Marinette as the class begins to mutter.

"Why would you say that, Chloé?" Lila's eyes begin to water. "Why would I want to hurt my best friend like that? You know that akumas do things they normally wouldn't do. After all, Marinette's so sweet that she wouldn't hurt a fly, yet Little Devil simply terrorised the school."

"How _dare_ you," Marinette hisses, her fists clenching as bile rises in her throat at how she just _can't remember_ what she did. Is this how other akuma victims have felt? Sick, helpless, like there's a grand secret that they're not being let in on? Of course, they could all just watch the footage of themselves on the Ladyblog, but it's not the same as actually remembering what they've done. And Marinette's honestly not sure that she can bring herself to watch a corrupted version of herself hurting other people. Does Lila even feel any remorse for what she did the two times she was Volpina?

Lila must not have been affected by whatever Marinette did as Little Devil because there's no way – _no way_ – that she'd be carrying on with these lies and guilt trips otherwise. The only sliver of a bright spot is that her guilt trips seem to be directed more at her so-called friends, who can't seem to look at Marinette even as they half-turn in their seats, but that's honestly just proof that she only considers them her servants and it irritates Marinette even more.

"Hey." Adrien grabs her hands and promptly crashes. "Calm down, Marinette. Breathe. She's just trying to get a rise out of you while looking like she's complimenting you."

Marinette closes her eyes, takes a few deep breaths to let the anger wash away, and then nods and opens her eyes. Adrien smiles and lets go of her hands and she briefly wonders if it's worth getting angry again just so he'll hold them. She brushes that very Lila-esque thought off with a shudder.

"It must have been another akuma that could cause illusions," Lila's saying. "I very much doubt that an akuma could reach me all the way in Achu _and_ bring me all the way back here to Paris. Honestly, I can understand why Ladybug would have reached that conclusion with all the stress she was under that day, especially after having such limited evidence from not actually seeing that akuma and having fought me as Volpina before. We did make up but of course there's going to be lingering feelings from that."

The class mutters again, but this time in agreeance. Marinette wants to thump her head against the desk until she cracks her skull but refrains because this time, there's no Skype call for the class to focus on and she'll most definitely be noticed and treated like a weirdo. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices that Alya isn't taking part in the muttering and neither is Nino. Hmm. That's odd. Are they starting to see through Lila's lies?

"Ladybug could have been wrong!" Sabrina pipes up. "She didn't actually see Volpina! She just made a guess based on that illusion and you're right, it could have been another akuma!"

"Thank you, Sabrina," Lila says with a warm smile. "It's so great and brave of you to stand up for me. I'm so glad I have such a good friend."

Sabrina positively beams. Although Chloé's face gives nothing away, Marinette can see how the blonde's shoulders are squared tight, and she realises that although Chloé had been utterly mean and horrible to Sabrina, she _had_ cared for Sabrina in her own way. Marinette's torn, though. On the one hand, Chloé does care about Sabrina. But on the other hand, Sabrina doesn't seem like a good fit for Chloé. She's too quick to jump and do whatever Chloé tells her to do. Maybe…maybe Sabrina needs friends who will bring her out of her shell rather than taking advantage of her. And maybe Chloé needs friends who will actually call her out on her behaviour rather than enable it. Marinette clearly remembers how Chloé had responded to Ladybug nudging her to own her behaviour before fighting Malediktator, rather than push it off on Marinette and her father. And Marinette also knows that she's more than willing and capable of calling Chloé out.

"Well, Marinette," says Mlle Bustier, obviously trying to steer the class back on track. "If you'd like your seat back then you're more than welcome to switch with Lila."

Marinette freezes when everyone in the class swivels to look at her. They don't look hostile like they did this morning…but they don't really look that friendly either. She chances a peek at Alya but Alya can't even meet her eyes. That's…better than outright dismissal, right? Her first instinct is to agree and switch seats with Lila to keep the peace, to maybe earn back a little of her classmates' approval –

Wait. _Earn_ back? Why is she even thinking that? She didn't do anything wrong…except maybe she did, because why else would an entire class, including her best friend, turn against her for a girl they barely know? Maybe Marinette really was rude, maybe she made a wrong move somewhere and she just hasn't realised –

"Marinette?" Mlle Bustier's voice cuts through her thoughts. Marinette jumps, nearly falling off her seat if not for Adrien grabbing her arm to steady her, which doesn't really help since it feels like her skin under his hand is on fire.

"Yes!" Marinette cries. "I mean no – I mean –"

"I feel so awful that I'm sitting in your seat when it should have been me at the back," Lila says with a little sniffle. "It would mean so much to me to swap seats, Marinette. It's my way of apologising to you because Chloé's right. You should never have been put into that position without being asked. Please say you will?"

Lila's words are so tempting and for a moment, Marinette can see why everybody else got suckered into her web of lies. But then she shakes them off, trying not to let her annoyance show. Lila had been blatantly lying earlier about Jagged Stone's kitten and not one person had fact-checked with Marinette, the person who actually does talk to Jagged Stone and can verify that claim. Lila had literally just lied and claimed that she's Ladybug's best friend, which is very much untrue because Marinette can't stand Lila and Marinette happens to be Ladybug. Even Chloé, as an alternate Ladybug, immensely dislikes Lila. So, whichever way you slice it, it's untrue.

Marinette might feel bad about being assertive, but Lila doesn't feel bad about being manipulative. Lila doesn't care about any of them. Chloé's right; it's time Marinette stood up for herself, since no one else seems willing to stand up for her. She fought Chloé to win her old seat, so now it's time to fight Lila for this one.

"I'm so sorry, Lila, but I've actually really grown to like it here!" Marinette says, pasting a dazzling smile on her face. She's not even lying, since that's one of the few things she absolutely can't stand; she's simply working with the version of truth that Lila has given. If Lila's claiming to have arthritis, then Marinette just needs to work with that and treat it as truth. "You don't need to feel awful at all! I know that your arthritis must be just _awful_, and I'd hate for you to have to carry your bag further than necessary!"

Lila's eyes flash dangerously, in stark contrast to her cheerful face, but she can't say anything about that unless she claims that her arthritis is cured. And Marinette's not sure if Lila's influence can cover that lie backtrack, although she doesn't really want to find out.

"I'm glad you're happy in your new seat, Marinette," Mlle Bustier beams, clearly unaware that she's just making things worse for Lila. "It's always nice to try new things. And it's wonderful that you're so concerned for poor Lila and her arthritis!"

"Yes," Lila says through gritted teeth and a fake smile. "Thank you for being so concerned for me, Marinette. You really are as sweet a person as everyone else claims."

That one makes their classmates shift guiltily. Marinette notices Alya bow her head further, and she can't help but frown and wonder what exactly she'd done when she'd been akumatised. Is this torment what every other akumatised person goes through? Do they also agonise over not being able to remember their actions while hurting other people?

A hand closes over her forearm and squeezes, making her jump and bang her shin on the table leg. Adrien just smiles at her.

"You looked a little lost," he says. "I thought you might be remembering the akuma and that you might need some support."

Marinette absolutely dies at that because how _sweet_ is this boy, picking up that she's freaking out and comforting her? Come to think of it, maybe she and Chat Noir should start comforting the victims of akumatisations and supporting them. As Heroes' Day had shown, it's possible for people to be akumatised again and, annoyance of fighting akumas aside, it's probably just as distressing for the victims as it was the first time. At least, if Marinette's own experience fits into the majority.

"And you, Adrien?" Mlle Bustier says. "Are you happy where you're sitting?"

"Of course, Mlle Bustier," Adrien says with that soft smile of his that makes Marinette want to float away. "Marinette's one of my best friends. I just know that Lila will have plenty of support and company at the front, so I thought I'd keep Marinette company at the back."

Lila looks like she's two seconds from breathing fire. Marinette's concerned that she's going to be akumatised again at some point in the future, but if a seat change and a lost chance to sit next to Adrien is enough to trigger that then Marinette's not sure what else she can do other than take care of it when it happens.

"Okay, class, let's continue where we left off," Mlle Bustier says, and the classroom is full of students tapping their screens to bring up the appropriate page.

"Really, I can walk, it's no big deal," Marinette insists as Chloé tugs her towards the limousine waiting outside the school.

"Utter rubbish," Chloé scoffs. "All my friends ride with me. Isn't that right, Sabrina?"

There's silence as Chloé waits for a reply from someone who's no longer there. Marinette moves to hug Chloé comfortingly, but Chloé just pulls away and crosses her arms.

"I don't even know why I'm so upset," she huffs. "She picked her side and it wasn't me. I thought it would be okay when she ran over to Lila because it wasn't me that Lila was targeting, and I was totally going to forgive her. But then she did _that_."

"Well…you've still got Adrien, don't you?" Marinette says. "And...me. Ladybug and Queen Bee in action, right?"

Chloé laughs shakily but Marinette's comment has done the trick and she looks a little less upset. "Yes, yes, of course. _I'm_ friends with Ladybug and _I_ know it. All those other losers don't even know that they turned on _Ladybug_. It's brilliant!"

"Chloé," Marinette reprimands, crossing her arms. "You know I'm not going to just stand there and let you be mean just because we don't hate each other now, right?"

"Whatever. Come on, my limo's waiting."

"Marinette?" says a small voice. Marinette's heart leaps into her throat when she turns and sees Alya standing there, hugging herself and twisting one foot against the concrete.

"Ugh, what are _you_ doing here?" Chloé says. "If you've come to give Marinette an essay on why you think she's a screw-up –"

"Chloé," Marinette chastises. "You don't need to be mean to her."

"She was mean to _you_. Don't tell me you've lost that backbone you've started growing, because facing down Lila in class was –"

"I haven't," Marinette says. "But I don't want to be mean to people if I can help it."

"I just want to talk," Alya says. "I swear. I…actually want to apologise."

"I think I'll walk home today," Marinette says to Chloé after a moment. "But I really do appreciate your offer, and I'll totally take you up on it another day. Maybe when I'm tired and exhausted from all that hard work." She shoots Chloé a significant look, hoping that the blonde catches on to what Marinette's trying not to reveal to Alya.

"Fine," Chloé scoffs and rolls her eyes. "But you so owe me a box of croissants. And you better not let her walk all over you."

"Go on, Chloé," Marinette says with a little laugh. Chloé turns and walks off, flipping her ponytail in the process, leaving Marinette and Alya to start the journey home. It's awkwardly quiet at first, with either girl not knowing what to say or even wanting to be the first to break the silence, but then Alya takes a deep breath and shatters it herself.

"I have so much to apologise for," she says. "But oh my god, first I need to apologise for treating my best friend like that. Actually, I don't even deserve to be called your best friend, not after what I said –"

"Alya," Marinette interrupts, not out of unspoken forgiveness but not out of annoyance either.

"Right. Sorry." Alya gives a dark little laugh. "I trusted a complete stranger over my own best friend, all because that stranger claimed to be Ladybug's best friend and gave an interview for the Ladyblog. I know I've let my love of Ladybug and the Ladyblog get in the way before but…wow, that's not even an excuse. I let myself get angry at you for being mad at Lila when I should've realised that it was totally uncool for me to kick you to the back of the room. Without even telling you. Just so I could sit with my boyfriend."

"You're allowed to sit next to whoever you want," Marinette says, trying to sound as neutral as possible. Honestly, the fact that Alya's apologising is already starting to fill her chest with helium balloons, but she can practically feel Chloé's disapproval if she just shrugs and forgives without making Alya work for it. And Chloé's right. If being forced to actually face consequences for her actions is what pushed Chloé to change in the past then Alya also needs to feel the consequences and not get off lightly just because she's not Marinette's mortal enemy.

"That's not the point and you know it," Alya says. "I broke the bro code. Sisters before misters. But more than that, I broke _our_ code: Marinette before anyone else."

"Why now?" Marinette says. "Why apologise to me now? After everything you said this morning –"

"I was wrong," Alya interrupts. "Especially with the checking your sources comment. Not only should my best friend be enough of a credible source for me but…I'm not even that good a journalist. I didn't even go searching for the truth myself. I just believed what some girl told me because it was exactly what I wanted to hear, and I let her get between me and my best friend."

Marinette doesn't say anything as they cross the road. Alya still has just a little bit further to go before Marinette can forgive her, considering that she was hurtful enough to lead to an akumatisation. But at the same time, Marinette can tell that every single word of Alya's is genuine.

"You don't remember the akuma, do you?" Alya says, then shakes her head. "Silly me. Of course you don't. I don't remember being Lady WiFi."

"What did I do?" Marinette says, dread starting to pool in her belly. Had she really been that bad? How far had the extent of her damage gone?

"You called yourself Little Devil," Alya says. "You even looked like one. I got some footage before I got hit but…never mind. You said that now it was our turn to listen and…your power made me hear all my dark thoughts. Every single one." She swallows and continues. "Like how I was so quick to believe someone I don't even know over my best friend. And how this probably isn't the first time I've believed something without fact-checking, even though I consider myself a journalist. Then when I snapped…all that pain, all that hate, it wouldn't stop! Not even when I was one of those devils. I lashed out and hurt so many other devils to try to get the pain to stop but…it wouldn't."

Marinette feels sick to her stomach, and she nearly has to clap a hand over her mouth to stop herself from throwing up. She'd done _that_? Not only to Alya but to everyone else? Oh no. Oh god. What kind of a person is she?

"Nonononono, don't blame yourself!" Having caught sight of Marinette's face, Alya grabs Marinette by the shoulders and gently shakes. "You were akumatised, girl, don't you dare put any of this blame on yourself. You're as much to blame for the stuff you did as Little Devil as I am for the stuff I did as Lady WiFi. That creep Hawkmoth took advantage of you."

"Then why are you telling me this?" Marinette says thickly, even though she can't help but be grateful that it's Alya telling her this and not one of her other classmates who had been walking on eggshells around her since she was akumatised.

"Because it made me realise how wrong I was," Alya says miserably. "It made me realise what a bad friend I am. Especially completely ignoring you and brushing you off as jealous."

"That's what hurts so much," Marinette says, surprised at her sudden boldness. "You just assumed I was a jealous, shallow girl who hated anyone who got close to Adrien, when you should have known that wasn't true because of Kagami. That really hurt, Alya. You ignored me completely and shut me down whenever I even thought about Lila –"

"I know," Alya says, her eyes suspiciously shiny behind her glasses. "I'll never forgive myself for that. I won't even be surprised if you don't forgive me. And I talked to Nino and convinced him as well and he feels terrible but…I get it if you won't forgive him either, especially not until he apologises himself."

Having reached the bakery, they stop. Alya stands silently, rocking on the balls of her feet, waiting for the answer that will determine the future of their friendship. Marinette is torn. On the one hand, Alya's thoroughly apologised and Marinette isn't willing to throw away all the work they've put into their friendship over one mistake. On the other hand…that mistake had been horribly massive, and if it happened once – heck, not even just once, this isn't the first time Alya's doubted her about Lila – then who's to say it won't happen again?

"I can't answer that," Marinette finally says, having reached a compromise. "I want to forgive you, Alya, but…I don't know if I can. At least, not yet."

"That's totally cool," Alya says immediately. "Just…don't take too long? Please? Even if you tell me to shove off…"

"I'll try and tell you as soon as possible," Marinette says. Alya nods, then makes a move as if to hug Marinette before pulling back and clearing her throat.

"Okay. Um…bye, Marinette." She walks off with an awkward little wave, leaving Marinette to enter the bakery by herself. Her parents look too busy with the closing customers to notice her, so she tries to slip upstairs unseen, but she's foiled when her papa calls her name in his booming voice.

"Hi, Papa! Hi, Maman!" she chirps, her fake smile pasted on her face. But she's clearly not fooling anyone; Tom and Sabine exchange looks, then take off their aprons, and Tom bustles Marinette upstairs as Sabine closes up. Marinette sits at the dining table, waiting for whatever speech is coming her way, but Tom is silent until Sabine is upstairs too.

"Principal Damocles called us today," Tom says while Sabine bustles around the kitchen, making a hot drink. "Marinette…he said you were akumatised."

"Oh, that?" Marinette gives the fakest laugh ever. "That was no big deal, Papa, I'm fine."

"You're not "fine" if you were akumatised," Sabine counters, setting a cup of hot chocolate down in front of Marinette. Mini marshmallows and a dollop of whipped cream, just how Marinette loves it. "Marinette, dear, you can talk to us. We're your parents. Whatever upset you that much, we'll listen and won't judge."

Marinette toys with her hot chocolate before taking a big sip. It's perfect, just how her maman always makes it, and she can't help the tears that suddenly spring to her eyes.

"It's this new girl in class, Lila Rossi," she bursts out. She tells the whole story, all the way back to Lila's first appearance up to Alya's apology, and it's terrifying to watch the twin dark looks that pass over her parents' faces when she gets to the part about her class turning on her. Their utter confusion at Chloé's offer of totally-alliance-not-friendship makes up for this, though, and when Marinette finishes her story, she takes a gulp of her lukewarm hot chocolate and waits.

"I think the answer you gave Alya is completely right," Sabine says, patting Marinette on the arm. "You're under no obligation to forgive her right away. Or ever."

"But she did make a mistake," Tom adds. "And I'm so proud that you're so mature and even considering giving her a second chance, Marinette."

"These classmates of yours can't be real friends if they turn on you just like that," Sabine says, whisking away Marinette's empty mug. It's promptly replaced by a plate of warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies, and Marinette has to ooh and thank her maman to cover Tikki's tiny gasp of delight at the smell. She takes two cookies, slipping one into her purse for Tikki to munch on because the only thing her kwami loves more than chocolate chip cookies is warm, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

"I know, Maman," Marinette says. "But…I feel like such a bad person if I don't forgive them. I know Lila's convincing and I didn't make myself look –"

"Marinette." One of Tom's gigantic bear hands rests on Marinette's shoulder. "It's no one's fault but theirs and Lila's. It's okay to not forgive people who hurt you, so long as you don't let it rot you away. It doesn't even matter if you _were_ being jealous. They had no right to treat you that badly."

"I'm surprised that Chloé Bourgeois stood up for you," Sabine comments.

"So am I," Marinette says with a small laugh. "But she really came through for me, even if she's still mean. Baby steps, I guess. Maybe me being her friend will help her be less mean."

There's a knock on the door downstairs. Sabine hums in curiosity and heads down to answer it.

"It's your decision whether you forgive Alya and everyone else, my little cupcake," Tom says. "You shouldn't feel bad if you decide not to. And if you do forgive them, that doesn't mean you have to forget what they did."

Marinette finishes her second cookie and smiles. "Thanks, Papa," she says, standing up so she can hug him. Tom is so big that it's like being wrapped in a warm cage, and Marinette's always loved the feeling of being safe and warm and _home_.

"Marinette," Sabine calls as she comes up the stairs, another pair of footsteps echoing behind her. "There's a friend here to see you. I'm not sure if he's one of _those_ ones but he says he's not."

Marinette frowns, wondering who exactly would come to see her. She gets her answer when Sabine enters with the guest, who just so happens to be one Adrien Agreste, and she freezes at the sight of the handsome blond boy _in her home_.

Okay, so this has happened before, _but still_.

"Hey, Marinette!" Adrien waves. "I wanted to come and check up on you."

Marinette tries to make words work but her brain has shut down. She opens her mouth, closes it, then forces out, "What about your fencing lesson?"

"I told Nathalie I was going out," Adrien says as he crosses over to sit at the table. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette spots her parents discreetly slipping away, and gratitude floods through her at the action. "I dared her to stop me. She's been…a bit weird since Heroes' Day."

"You think she was the one behind Scarlet Moth?" Marinette says. "You think that Hawkmoth akumatised her?"

"Maybe?" Adrien shrugs. "I don't know with her. Sometimes I think I know her, then I realise I don't. Not really. Anyway, I felt a bit rebellious. I've been feeling like a bit of a doormat lately. I guess I need to apologise for that."

"What? You? Apologise? No!" Marinette babbles. "You came to find me –"

"I knew Lila was a liar from the beginning," Adrien says. "Ladybug exposed her in front of me when she first came here. But I was so afraid of getting caught in conflict that I…didn't say anything. I let you take the fall. And I wanted to apologise for that, since I didn't after Chloé saved you and in class." He runs a hand through his hair, which is totally unfairly distracting.

_I've died and gone to Heaven,_ Marinette thinks dazedly.

"I got in the habit of just going along with what my father wanted after he was akumatised, so he wouldn't get upset again," Adrien continues. "And I…I guess it just became habit to stay out of things and try to make everyone happy, especially where Chloé was concerned. It was out of line for me to tell you off for being happy that she was leaving. I see that now. But I realised today that I couldn't just stay out of things, that my inaction was part of what hurt you."

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing," Marinette quotes, flashing all the way back to that fateful school day.

"Yeah," Adrien agrees. They lapse into a comfortable silence, though Marinette has to fiddle with her fingers and look down at the table so that she doesn't end up staring at Adrien like some sort of weirdo. And with no one else around, she doesn't have any backup to help her explain such a thing.

"How about we go to my room?" Marinette says, then immediately squeaks when she realises how her question could be construed. "I mean – not like _that_ – I just – bit privacy talk more – _I mean_ –"

Thankfully, Adrien takes pity on her and agrees that they should move their conversation to Marinette's room. She leads him up the stairs to her room, holding the trapdoor open for him, and she perches on her chaise lounge so stiffly that she might literally crumble into pieces at the slightest breeze, watching him survey her room. The last time he'd seen it had been when Jagged Stone had been here to film that reality show, when he'd seen all the pictures she'd had up of him, and even thinking about that is enough to start panic bubbling in her stomach.

Just as Marinette's about to confirm whether Adrien knows she's Ladybug so that Tikki can finally be free for the evening, Tikki comes zooming out of her purse and does a lap of the room. Adrien watches her, transfixed, and Marinette can't exactly decide whether she wants to kiss him for being so pretty or scream at him because _he knows her secret_.

"Hi, Adrien!" Tikki chirps. Adrien just smiles and waves back at her and Marinette wants to die right there because it's true, Adrien talked to Tikki when Chloé had the earrings and Tikki had just come flying out, so there's no way he can't know –

"So, it's true!" he says. "You really are –"

"YesIknowI'mhopelessIgotakumatisedI'mliketheworstLadybugaroundIgetitif –"

"Whoa, whoa." Adrien rests his hands on Marinette's shoulders and she spontaneously combusts on the spot. "You're not hopeless, Marinette! Chloé told me that you took your earrings off before Hawkmoth could get to them. That's pretty heroic if you ask me."

"So – I – I'm not weak?" Marinette says in a high voice. She just can't seem to get it to stick that being akumatised isn't a reflection of her strength or weakness because she's _Ladybug_. Everyone has to be able to rely on her, and how can they do that if she can't even rely on herself?

"That's rubbish," Adrien says, crossing his arms as he sits down next to Marinette. She lets out a tiny squeak when she realises that she'd said that last sentence out loud. "You've made plenty of mistakes before and everyone still relies on you. You're just as entitled to your feelings as everyone else. No one's perfect, not even you. _Ladybug_."

Marinette whines and covers her face with her hands.

"Is…is it really that bad that I know?" Adrien says. "Do you think I'm going to – I don't know, be disappointed that it's you behind the mask?

Marinette's heart skips a beat. "No! No!" she stammers truthfully. "I'm not ashamed that it's me! I just…" She lets out a sniffle. "I – I feel so _powerless_, Adrien. All this time, I've been telling Chat Noir and everyone else that it's too dangerous or I wasn't ready and – and now I don't even get the chance to tell you myself! You had to find out because I got _akumatised_."

Adrien's face falls. When Marinette fails to stop a choked sob from escaping as the events of the day crash down on her at once, he sidles closer and wraps an arm around her, and the dam breaks. She slumps against him and lets herself cry, covering her face with her hands to muffle the sounds so that her parents don't come investigating because as much as she loves them, she doesn't want them to see her like this. Adrien seeing her like this is bad enough, though at least he doesn't seem to be judging her for it like she'd feared. Warmth nuzzles into her cheek and although she appreciates Tikki's attempts at comfort, she can't bring herself to nuzzle back.

It's not just the akuma she's crying over. It's…everything. It's the pressure of being Ladybug, as much as she loves and relishes her role as Paris' protector, without being able to confide in anyone other than Tikki while not hiding personal details. It's the way her classmates abandoned her without even a thought just because some girl they didn't even know told them some nice lies, especially after that 'everyday Ladybug' comment. It's the way she doesn't even know if she should forgive her best friend, torn between wanting Alya and even Nino back desperately while also being sick of being trodden on. The dream team, right?

"S-Sorry," Marinette chokes out, wiping her eyes. "I didn't mean –"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Adrien says. "You're _allowed_ to cry, Marinette. You don't need to apologise for it."

How is this boy absolutely perfect? Okay, so he's not _perfect_, but sue her. She's a girl with a crush. Although at least she's been able to get out a few sentences without stammering, even if she'd moved on to crying, so…progress?

"Adrien's right," Tikki says firmly. "You need to let yourself feel and cry, or you won't be able to properly process your emotions. And that makes you more vulnerable to akumas! You're so used to thinking of Ladybug as perfect but…Marinette, Ladybug is just a person with a mask! And that person is _you_."

Marinette lets out a watery laugh and scoops Tikki up to hug her, unable to contain her sheer gratitude for the small kwami who's proven to be her closest friend. What she'd do without Tikki, she has no idea, and she's filled with a newfound resolve to keep Hawkmoth from getting her Miraculous. Disastrous consequences aside, she will _not_ let Hawkmoth get his hands on her tiny friend.

"Marinette?" Adrien says suddenly, causing Marinette to jerk sharply. Thankfully, she seems to be growing used to him just talking out of nowhere, because she doesn't knock anything over or make an idiot of herself.

"Yeah?"

"I…I need to tell you something. It's not fair that I know you're Ladybug and you don't know this."

"Know what?" What secret could Adrien be hiding? It has to be real serious, with the way he's toying with the hem of his shirt and not meeting Marinette's eyes. Oh no, is it something bad? Is he going to tell Marinette that they can't be friends after all? She just couldn't –

"Marinette, calm down," Tikki says with her tinkling laughter. "Chloé did tell you to ask him about Camembert, remember?"

"What does Camembert have to do with Ladybug?" Marinette says.

"Everything," Adrien says. "Just…don't freak out, okay?" He reaches down to hold his pocket open and says, "Plagg, you can come out."

"Ugh, finally!" says a familiar scratchy little voice. Marinette freezes, her mouth dropping, unable to comprehend the sight of the black cat kwami zooming out of Adrien's pocket because that means –

No.

No way.

Adrien is _Chat Noir_?

Her partner's been right in front of her all along?

_She's been in love with her partner while turning him down for himself_.

"I think you broke her," Plagg says with a smirk. Tikki glares at him, then swoops down in front of Marinette's catatonic face.

"Marinette!" Tikki's small slap brings Marinette back to earth.

"_You're Chat Noir_!" Marinette whisper-shrieks. Adrien spreads his hands with a sheepish smile.

"Surprise?" he says. Marinette jumps to her feet and begins to pace, pulling at her hair.

"This is a disaster!"

"It's not that bad –"

"I've been in love with _you_ but not you!"

"I'm the same person –"

"My partner – one of my best friends – is the guy I can't even talk to without dying!"

"Well, now you can –"

"All those times Chat flirted with me – I could have been flirting with my _crush_ but noooo –"

"I think she's taking the news pretty well, all things considering," Tikki says. "I mean, she just admitted that she likes you without even stammering."

"You call this an improvement?" Plagg says, gesturing to the girl who's melting down.

"At least she's using her words?" Tikki offers.

"Sure thing, Sugarcube."

"Marinette!" Adrien jumps up to grab Marinette carefully by the shoulders, halting her pacing. "Hey. It's not as big as you think. You like me. I like Ladybug. You're Ladybug. Chat Noir is me."

"But I didn't have feelings for Chat Noir because I thought he was a different person!" Marinette babbles. "It doesn't feel right just – just going 'yeah, we're the same people, happily ever after'!"

"Which is why we take it slow," Adrien says, guiding Marinette to sit back down on the chaise lounge. "We don't have to go from zero to a hundred straight away. We already hang out together, so we can just…make a date out of it sometimes. Get to know each other better outside the masks."

"I'm sorry, is this the same Adrien who constantly swooned over Ladybug and then set up a whole rooftop picnic for her?" Plagg says.

"Plagg!" Tikki scolds.

"I was trying to get her to like me so I _could_ get to know her better," Adrien says sullenly. Marinette squints at him through red-rimmed eyes.

"Are you – are you _sulking_, Adrien Agreste?" she says with a weak giggle.

"No!" Adrien insists, sulking harder, which makes Marinette laugh harder. "And I didn't even think about it until now, but Marinette's right. Just because we like one version of each other doesn't mean that we're ready yet, and I'm determined not to ruin it. So…if she wants to take it slow, I'll take it slow too."

"You really are perfect," Marinette says dazedly. Adrien just laughs, rubbing the back of his neck, and slips an arm around her waist to tug her closer.

"Is this okay?" he says. "Sorry, I should've asked but –"

"Hush," Marinette says. With Plagg next to Adrien, it's easier to see him as Chat Noir, which makes it easier to forget that she's supposed to be a total wreck around Adrien because…Adrien _is _Chat Noir. She's essentially been talking to him like a normal human being for months now. "I like hugs. Hugs are good."

"Looks more like a cuddle to me," Plagg teases.

"_Plagg_!" Tikki says as Marinette and Adrien flush bright red but don't pull apart. "But you _are_ right."

"Tikki!" Marinette complains.

"Sorry, Marinette!" Tikki says with a little shrug.

"How about a kiss, purrincess?" Adrien says with a grin that's so Chat Noir that Marinette can't believe she never connected the dots before.

"Dream on, chaton," Marinette says, the nickname falling easily from her lips. She can't believe she's turning down a _kiss_ from _Adrien_ though. "You need to earn that first."

"Alright," Adrien says easily. "How about dinner tomorrow night? I have a photoshoot all day, so I should be free in the evening."

Marinette's face burns at the reality – she's _having dinner with Adrien Agreste_ – but she manages to stammer out her acceptance, and it's totally worth it to see how Adrien's face lights up.

"This is so gross," Plagg says. "You owe me extra Camembert."

"So that's why you stink!" Marinette says. "I can't believe I never realised!"

"Not you too," Adrien whines. "Chloé said the same thing."

He looks so adorable with his pouty face that Marinette can't help but lean in and kiss him on the cheek. Sure, she partly wishes that the ground would swallow her whole, but it's worth it to see Adrien looking exactly as speechless as she feels.

"So…are you going to forgive the others?" Adrien says when he regains his voice. "If they realise that Lila's lying and they apologise? Sorry, I just – first thing I could think of to say."

"I don't know." Marinette looks down. "Papa told me that I don't have to if I don't want to, and I don't have to forget what they did even if I do forgive them. But…I feel like a bad person if I don't. Like I'm the one holding on to stuff."

"That's not true," Adrien says so firmly that Marinette's head whips up. He's not quite smiling but he doesn't look stern either, so Marinette takes a deep breath to calm her racing heart. "They're the ones who wronged you, so you're the one who gets to decide if you forgive them. You're not holding on to anything by protecting yourself. In fact…" He sighs and smiles, though it's not the happiest smile. "I wish I had half your courage, Marinette."

"M-Me? My – you can't think –" Marinette flounders.

"I do think. You've stood up to Chloé so many times. You rush into danger to protect others –"

"You do that too!"

"I don't take Chat Noir nearly as seriously as I should. It's…it's one of the things Little Devil got to me with."

Marinette swallows down the nausea that's starting to rise again. Adrien must be able to sense it, because he squeezes her and tugs her even closer.

"Don't even think about apologising," he says. "Akuma, remember? It was just…I needed that wakeup call. Chat Noir is freeing, yeah, but I constantly leave it up to you to come up with the plans while I jump around like an idiot."

"That's because I'm the brains of us, chaton," Marinette says, poking his nose and then flushing again. "You're the muscle. You're just as important as me. Ladybug wouldn't be able to win most of the time without her Chat Noir there to help. But you have to stop sacrificing yourself just because you like me!"

"It's not even that," Adrien says. "It's just logical. You're the only one who can purify akumas. If I have to take a hit to buy you that time, so be it."

"I wish you wouldn't," Marinette mumbles. "I care a lot about you. Even before I knew you were Chat Noir."

"Right back at you, _Marinette_," Adrien says. Marinette giggles and rests her head on his shoulder, unable to believe that she gets to do this. That she gets to be _close_ to Adrien, that she gets to be – _together_ with him, if their dinner date goes well. A _date_. She's going on a _date_ with Adrien! And he just so happens to be the partner that she would trust with her life! Of all the people who could have been Chat Noir, Marinette is so utterly grateful that it's Adrien Agreste.

"How long until your father gets angry?" she says. "You should have been at fencing hours ago. And what about practicing piano?"

"My friend needed me," Adrien says simply. "You're more important than one fencing lesson."

Marinette turns her head so that she can nuzzle into the crook of Adrien's neck, trying not to faint as the smell of _Adrien_ washes over her. In response, Adrien wraps his other arm around her so that they're snuggling on the lounge, and Marinette can't help but feel that everything's going to get so much better from here on out.

Maybe she should introduce Queen Bee to their patrols. Chloé's certainly earned it, and with the Peacock Miraculous out there, it might be wise for Queen Bee – and Rena Rouge and Carapace, if Marinette ultimately forgives them – to get as much experience as possible, and to work out their team dynamic. Especially since they'd utterly fallen apart on Heroes' Day. But at the end of the day, it's her and Chat Noir that make the best team

Whatever Hawkmoth throws at them, they'll be ready for. They're an inseparable duo, after all. Not even an akuma can destroy that.


End file.
